Doubt Cast On Explanation For Odd Bridge Blocks

A prominent engineer and convenor of the Professional Commons think-tank, Albert Lai, has questioned an official explanation into reports that concrete blocks have been washed away at the artificial border island for the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau bridge.

On Wednesday authorities insisted the so-called breakwater "tetrapods" were placed randomly on purpose, and said the bridge's structure is safe.

But Lai said: "They tried to explain that they're randomly placed because there's a tunnel underneath and that's why they tried not to place them too regularly, in order to not over-burden the structure of the tunnel.

"Now, if that is the case, this random placement should only be limited to a 20-metre strip where the tunnel alignment is, but if you look at the picture, that displacement actually spreads across the whole of the artificial island, which is over 100 metres wide. So that is unusual.

"And the second mismatch is that the displacement is very irregular, and also asymmetric. If this is deliberately designed, there is no reason to be so irregular and so asymmetric."

Footage taken by drone users appeared to show that a large section of the tetrapods had drifted away.

But in a statement, the mainland-based bridge authority said the tetrapods were installed in a random fashion by design.

The statement said the whole bridge project has passed quality tests and was left unscathed by a battering it received during Super Typhoon Hato last year.