Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2020complete | Page 52

Future Facts of the Greater-Bay-Area
Ying Wa Primary School, Lee, Ching Ho Jadon - 11
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area or simply Greater Bay Area (GBA) is a
megalopolis, which is the Chinese Government’s master plan for Hong Kong, Macau and nine more cities
in Guangdong Province, with an arm to build a business and technology hub.
The GBA consists of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Huizhou,
as well as Hong Kong and Macau. These eleven cities will establish themselves as key hubs for different
sectors: Hong Kong will be the international finance navigation and trade centre as well as a transport hub;
Macau will be an international tourism city and a platform for trades with Portuguese speaking countries like
Brazil; Guangzhou will take a leading role as an administrative hub while Shenzhen will expand its leading
role as a special economic zone and tech hub; Dongguan is transforming itself from the world’s factory into
more of a high-tech manufacturing base. Other cities in the region will also be involved, with the
government already spending billions on massive infrastructure projects.
With a total population of 67.65 million residing across a total area of 56,500, this region is one of the most
developed and vibrant areas in China. Featuring three of the world’s top ten ports in Shenzhen (3rd),
HK(5th) and Guangzhou(7th), the GBA represented approximately 12.5% of the country’s Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) in 2016. The development of the GBA initiative is designed to strengthen infrastructure
linkages among the cities involved. In fact, the existing GBA already possesses notable economic strength
and is comparable to the other leading bay areas around the world.
Apparently, the GBA scheme brought quite an excitement to many start-ups in Hong Kong as they look
forward to the benefits of being a part of a vast market of 70 million people. Recently, the Hong Kong
Economic Journal (HKEJ) sat down with ISTOP founder, Tyler Mok, who shared his views about the
opportunities in the GBA. Mok thinks that the GBA is a once-in-a-century opportunity for start-ups in
Hong Kong. Although the mainland start-ups possess certain advantages in terms of human resources, the
strength of Hong Kong start-ups lies in their ability to innovate and their global vision for business. For
start-ups that have the ambition to enter the GBA, they should approach by seeking projects and products
that are scarce in the domestic market there. Take health food, medicines and care products, in these
categories, products from Hong Kong brands can give mainland consumers greater confidence.
Creating the GBA of the future means both addressing the opportunities and challenges that the region
faces. There are three main expectations that the GBA would like to achieve at around 2050. First, the GBA
expects its cities to foster further economic reform and openings in the future. The GBA is supposed to be
an experimental zone for further economic reform and opening in China as a whole. Second, the GBA also
would like to enhance their business promotion in the region. Better connectivity and greater cooperation
around the GBA will foster opportunities for new or renewed joint promotion opportunities. These include
opportunities in investment promotion, research and development, education, medicine and healthcare,
tourism, major events and promotion in specific industries. Third, another expectation from the GBA in the
future is they would like to create regional development initiatives. New connectivity and cooperation
inside and outside the GBA should allow for regional development initiatives that might have been
impractical until now.
At GBA, the future of transportation is very important. They understand that their clients are no longer just
looking for wider roads to accommodate more traffic. They are looking for solutions that take technology
and data to the next level to provide safety, efficiency and cost savings. Resulting in safer roads and bridges,
a more efficient trip to the grocery store or hauling goods from one state to another. The GBA’s team of
experts handle jobs on every level including municipal, county, Department of Transportation, small milland-overlays
to highly complex interchanges and bridge design. The expansion of destinations served by the
high-speed rail from West Kowloon is likely to make the Hung Hom Station redundant as a border
crossing point. Allowing for potential opportunities for re-zoning and re-development. China has fasttracked
further expansion of the CRH system, the network, which extends to 30 of the country’s 33