Hong Kong  - Hong Kong lawmakers on Wednesday agreed to spend more than 133 million Hong Kong dollars (17 million US dollars) on a project to bridge the former British colony with Macau and Zhuhai in southern China.

Members of the Legislative Council's Public Works sub-committee endorsed a government proposal to pay a share of the construction costs for preliminary work which will be split by the three parties and the private sector.

Hong Kong's contribution will amount to more than half of the costs beyond that being paid by the private sector.

The 29-kilometre bridge is one of 10 big rail and road projects costing more than 32 billion Hong Kong dollars planned by Hong Kong to improve links with mainland China and in particular the industrial south.

The government claims the projects will pump around 13 billion US dollars a year into the economy and generate 250,000 extra jobs for low earners, helping to ease Hong Kong's widening rich-poor divide.

It is also hoped the bridge will alleviate congestion at border check-points and reaffirm Hong Kong as a logistics centre for southern China.

However, environmentalists have expressed concern that the bridge project may affect marine life, including the Chinese white dolphin which lives in the sea around Hong Kong and southern China.(dpa)