Du Ying, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission

A bridge linking Hong Kong, Macao and the Pearl River Delta is expected to start in 2009 and the central government will offer 5 billion yuan (730 million U.S. dollars) on its main body.

Pearl River Delta, the former vanguard of China's economic reform, will stand to be the new test field for the country to deepen economic reform and open itself wider to the outside world, the country's top economic planner said.

The plan was made public by Du Ying, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission at a news conference on Thursday.

The main body of the bridge stretches 29 km, the longest in the world. It will connect the country's three southern booming places of Hong Kong, Macao and Zhuhai.

Under the plan, the delta together with Hong Kong and Macao will be forged into "a globally competitive" and "the most vigorous area in the Asia-Pacific region" by 2020.

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2009)