BEIJING – China is ready to inaugurate the longest sea bridge in the worldthis year. The bridge, which connects Hong Kong and Macau with mainlandChina, is 55 km long and six lanes wide. The project is aimed at bringingthese three places closer by reducing the journey time to just about anhour long.

Reportedly built using more steel than as many as 60 Eiffel Towers, themulti-billion dollar project has been touted as the result of aninternational collaboration.

This concrete monster also boasts of four tunnels and four artificialislands. “We have included a lot of foreign experts from the UK, US,Denmark, Switzerland, Japan, and the Netherlands,” Gao Xinglin, Bridge teamleader, told news organisation Al Jazeera, adding, “They are from around 14countries.”

The bridge, however, has drawn criticism for over-spending and beingresponsible for some deadly accidents. But Chinese authorities haveapplauded the completed project, inviting foreign media this week to coverthe bridge. The official inauguration date, however, has not been announced.

“We hope that friends from the press can take this opportunity to see thenew accomplishment of China in the new era and fresh progress of the ‘onecountry, two systems’”, Song Ruan, deputy commissioner at the ChineseMinistry of Foreign Affairs, was quoted by Al Jazeera.