Time: February 26th, 2019  
Source:China Business Network(CBN)

The Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Feb. 18, clearly put forward five strategic points:

•Turning the area into a dynamic world-class city cluster.
•Making it an international center of scientific and technological innovation with global influence. 
•Providing a crucial support for the Belt and Road Initiative.
•Developing it into a demonstration area for deep cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao.
•Forming a high-quality community suitable for living, working and traveling.

Prof. Hu Gang of JNU's School of Public Administration told China Business Network that after the implementation of the five strategic positioning, the Greater Bay Area would become a super-large-scale comprehensive bay area led by scientific and technological innovation, distinguishing it  from the world's other bay areas

Tokyo is the industrial bay area; New York is the financial and trade bay area; San Francisco is the science and technology bay area; and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will have these functions of the other three bay areas, Hu said.

The Development Plan proposes to strengthen infrastructure construction by  enhancing external and internal communication, thus developing a fully functional and highly effective infrastructure network with a reasonable layout and smooth connections. This infrastructure network will provide strong support for the economic and social development of the Great Bay Area.

Chen Hongyu, counselor of the Guangdong Provincial Government and executive vice president of the Guangdong Economic Association, told China Business Network that the infrastructure construction in the Greater Bay Area includes promoting hardware facilities and mechanisms. That the hardware facilities develop at a fastest speed is ascribed to two points, he said. One is that it's easiest to break through. More important, it can benefit the people as soon as possible.

At the 2017 Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation round-table conference held by Shenzhen Innovation Research Institute, scholars from Shenzhen, taking Shenzhen Bay Port as an example, said: The construction of Shenzhen Bay Bridge was conducive; however, serious traffic-jam problems emerged in Shenzhen after it opened. Why? The main reason may be our lack of overall consideration to the integration of ground transportation system between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Infrastructure construction is only the first step, Hu said. The real challenge is the connection and integration of infrastructure system in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bay Area.