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BOC picked to lead lending on mega-bridge

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-20 14:37

Bank of China (BOC) said on Friday that it had been chosen as the lead bank for the financing of a huge bridge connecting Hong Kong with Macao and the city of Zhuhai in southern China.

Banks will finance 22 billion yuan ($3.22 billion) of the 37.6 billion yuan investment, Bank of China said on its website, without giving details on what proportion of the loans it would be providing.

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The remaining funds will be provided by the Chinese central government along with the governments of Guangdong province, Macao and Hong Kong, the statement said.

Officials have previously said that bank loans would be repaid from toll fees on the bridge, the construction of which is expected to start as early as this year.

With Beijing calling on banks to support its stimulus plans, China's State-owned lenders have been rushing to provide credit to big government-backed infrastructure projects that are seen as posing next to no default risk.

The bridge will connect Zhuhai, a city in the southwest of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, to the rest of the delta area and will slash travel times to Hong Kong. Currently, only ferries connect Zhuhai and Macao with Hong Kong.