"The bridge is a waste of money," says Claudia Mo, an independent lawmaker who supports greater democracy in Hong Kong. "When it comes to linking the mainland to Hong Kong, we have air, sea and land linkages already. Why do we need this extra project?"

Like other critics, Mo believes that building the bridge was a political act. In the wake of Occupy Hong Kong -- the 2014 pro-democracy protests which rocked the territory -- Beijing has tightened its grip on the city. Opponents see the bridge as a means by which to force assimilation and exert control.





"You can't see the existing transport connections -- in a literal way. But this bridge is very visible ... you can see it from the plane when you fly in to Hong Kong, and it's breathtaking," says Mo. "It links Hong Kong to China almost like an umbilical cord. You see it, and you know you're linked up to the motherland."

Mo says she is unsure that Hong Kong's roads can cope with the extra vehicular traffic the bridge will bring, and she believes the territory doesn't need any more tourists. "Hong Kong is bursting. We already get more tourists than the whole of the UK." In 2016, Hong Kong welcomed 56.7 million tourist arrivals, whereas the UK received 37.6 million overseas visitors.





Mo also believes that Hong Kong has spent too much money on the bridge. The three regional governments that collaborated on the project took financial responsibility for sections inside their own territories and shared the cost of the 14 mile (23 kilometer) long main bridge that runs between them.

Information supplied by the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Authority has revealed that the total cost of the main bridge was $7.56 billion, $4.32 billion of which was funded with bank loans. Of the remaining $3.24 billion, Hong Kong put up $1.38 billion -- a little less than Zhuhai ($1.43 billion), which received financial support from China's central government, and considerably more than Macau ($0.43 billion) which, with a population of 610,000, is the smallest of the three cities.





A spokesman at Hong Kong's Transport and Housing Bureau told CNN that Hong Kong spent an additional $4.57 billion on its Boundary Crossing Facilities, and $3.19 billion on a link road from the main bridge to the boundary crossing. Hong Kong's total bill exceeds $9 billion.





"Hong Kong has had to fund a lot of the bridge," says Mo, "but we won't see many benefits here."



