Substantial progress

After 40 years of reform and opening-up, China has made great progress in engineering, materials manufacture and technical expertise. Many outstanding engineers have come to the fore during the process, Su said.

"Now we build our projects not only based on the need for transportation, but also to meet the demand for high-quality, long-lasting, aesthetically pleasing projects that are easy to maintain, he said.

There were difficulties, of course, and when some contractors asked Su to lower the standards, he refused. He has never regretted his decision.

"With previous failures in mind, the team members (of the HZMB) had their ambitions bottled up, and they were determined to build something to restore the reputation of Chinese engineering," he said.

Even with the world's leading technologies at their disposal, Su and his team faced unknown factors while building the world's longest bridge-island-tunnel complex.

The 6.7-km subsea tunnel alone is China's first-ever offshore immersed tunnel - the longest in the world for vehicular traffic. The construction team had to work with limited data about the Pearl River estuary, because there had been no marine work in the area prior to the HZMB project.

Asked how many experiments the team had undertaken to assess factors such as resistance to wind and water pressure, and earthquakes, Su reviewed 14 years of preparatory work and construction.

"Conservatively, at least 300," he said, adding that usually just a couple of dozen experiments are necessary to build a sea crossing in China.

"To build the HZMB, we carried out the highest number of experiments in the nation's bridge-building history, which is a remarkable feat in terms of global engineering."

He praised the role Hong Kong played in the construction process.

"Hong Kong's international ties and close relationship with the mainland helped us to integrate global resources to achieve something great in the HZMB project," he said.

Taking the project as a whole, he is confident that the bridge will be an unrivaled success and will not disappoint expectations.

However, he cautioned China's engineers not to become complacent, because the country still faces many developmental challenges. One or two world-class bridges can serve as models, he said, but fundamental improvement will rely on the country's progress in overall economic and industrial development.