![]() “At present, the economic distribution is very uneven between the Pearl River Delta’s east and west coasts,” says Chan adding that, “the cities on the eastern side such as Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Dongguan are more economically developed than cities on the western side including Zhuhai, Jiangmen and Zhongshan.” It will slash journey times between the three cities from three hours to 30 minutes, putting them all within an hour’s commute of each other. “To compete with other bay areas in the world, the Chinese government has to remove or reduce these barriers … and promote integration among the cities,” says Chan. Additionally, residents carry three different passports and identity cards, and speak two different languages (Cantonese and Mandarin). The region incorporates three borders (Hong Kong/China Macau/China Hong Kong/Macau), three different legal systems and three different currencies. The idea of a Greater Bay Area was first raised in 2009, but development has been hampered because “there are lots of barriers between the cities,” Chan says. “It takes up less than 1% of the land area of China and is home to less than 5% of the population but produces 12% of China’s GDP.” When compared to countries around the world, he says “the Greater Bay Area already has the 11th largest economy.” Marcos Chan, head of research for commercial real estate consultancy CBRE Hong Kong, Southern China and Taiwan, says the region is already very vibrant and economically productive. Home to 68 million people, the Greater Bay Area covers 21,800 square miles (56,500 square kilometers) in central southern China, and encompasses 11 cities – Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities across Guangdong province. The official narrative is that greater regional integration will drive economic growth. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is a central plank in China’s master plan to develop its own Greater Bay Area – a region it hopes will develop to rival the bay areas of San Francisco, New York and Tokyo in terms of technological innovation and economic success.
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