Greater Bay Area ‘more connected than ever’ as China’s integration plan celebrates 5th anniversary

Fan’s trip also included stops at the new Guangzhou Baiyun Railway Station and Hong Kong Disneyland, which would have taken more than twice as long to accomplish even a year ago.

The city of [Greater Bay Area] We are more connected than ever. What has impressed me most over the past five years is the improvement, especially in cross-border transportation,” said Ivan Zai, executive director of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Guangdong.

“Hong Kong residents are coming across the border to Shenzhen to eat and shop on the weekends. This shows how easy travel within the region has become,” he said. Zai, who visits places around the area twice, added.

Five years ago, the Chinese government announced a blueprint to create a world-leading business environment in the Greater Bay Area (with a cumulative population of more than 2,000 people), which includes nine cities in Guangdong province and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. . 86 million.

It is expected to rival cities around Tokyo, New York and San Francisco, positioning it as a world-class urban cluster.

In 2023, the total gross domestic product (GDP) of the Greater Bay Area, excluding Hong Kong and Macau, was 11.02 trillion yuan (1.5 trillion USD), an increase of 4.8% from the previous year.

Guangdong province announced last year that it would spend more than 670 billion yuan on infrastructure construction in the region, in a clear move to accelerate the region’s interconnectivity, including a city development project known as “GBA on the Rail”. It also includes 149.1 billion yuan for the inter-rail network.

The queue of railways in use and under construction in the Greater Bay Area is expected to reach a total of 4,700 km by 2025.

China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, National Roadmap for Economic Development from 2021 to 2025, sets a target for the total length of Guangdong province’s railway network to exceed 5,000 km. It is expected to invest more than 1.6 trillion yuan.

Fang is one of many products already taking advantage of these improvements. After a 90-minute high-speed train ride from Shantou to Guangzhou’s central business district, she photographed the new Guangzhou Baiyun Railway Station, now one of Asia’s largest rail complexes.

She then took a photo of a pet-themed cafe before heading to Hong Kong on another high-speed train.

After filming a tour of a friend’s new home in Hong Kong, she could have taken the last high-speed train back to Shantou. However, Fang preferred to take photos at Disneyland the next day. frozenThe themed attraction opened in December.

“Hong Kong residents now have more options to travel to different parts of Guangdong and even other provinces with convenient air, land and sea transportation, bringing convenience to many small and medium-sized enterprises.” Said Zai.

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Expectations are high for China’s Greater Bay Area, but challenges will arise in integrating 11 cities

Expectations are high for China’s Greater Bay Area, but challenges will arise in integrating 11 cities

“If there is anything else we can hope for, we would like to see more high-speed rail services.”

The 44 billion yuan Guangzhou Baiyun Railway Station, which opened in January, is a key link in Guangdong province’s intercity rail network.

In the first year, the station is expected to handle 104 passenger train services, mainly northbound trains and low-speed passenger trains running on the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed rail and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen intercity rail.

The local government estimates that more than 50 million passengers will depart from the station annually by 2035, when all planned trains begin operating.

In a further step towards improving connectivity, plans are also underway to convert two existing stations in central Guangzhou, Guangzhou East Railway Station and Guangzhou Railway Station, into high-speed rail hubs.

Currently, it only takes 48 minutes to travel by high-speed train from Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Station to Guangzhou South Station. However, its arrival point is still about 20 km from the city center, and it would take an additional 40 minutes by subway to get to downtown Guangzhou.

Construction of the line between Guangzhou Railway Station and Guangzhou South Railway Station, called the Guangzhou South Connecting Line, is about to begin.

It is expected to have a total length of 25km and a maximum speed of 200km/h, and will connect Guangzhou South Railway Station, Guangzhou Railway Station, and Baiyun Railway Station by 2027, reducing travel time from Hong Kong West Kowloon Railway Station to central Guangzhou to one hour. Ru.

Huang said they have already started receiving orders from customers across the Greater Bay Area.

“Tourism to the Chaozhou and Shantou regions has also increased significantly, and business opportunities have soared,” she added.

According to HSBC Global Research’s 2023 Greater Bay Area Insight Report, Guangdong province’s infrastructure bank loan balance reached 3.2 trillion yuan by the end of June, an increase of 15.8% year-on-year, mainly due to ongoing This is thanks to the construction of the transportation network.

Winnie Wong, a Hong Kong businessman who works and lives in Guangzhou, said she hopes these and similar improvements will provide more job opportunities for Hong Kong’s youth.

“Currently, the number of Hong Kong residents starting businesses or working in neighboring cities remains lower than expected,” Wong said.

“Cost of living, transportation and cultural integration between cities remain major challenges. Compared with mainland youth, Hong Kong youth have a poor understanding of domestic employers and markets. There is no progress.”