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Chon Tit (Macao) Investment and Development Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of the China Railway Construction Company, has won the bidding for the construction of the third cross-sea bridge in Macao, which will lie between the western parts of Macao Peninsular and Taipa Island.

The Office of Development of Infrastructure told Xinhua recently that the new bridge will extend 1,720 meters and be built at a total cost of 560.18 million patacas (about 70 million US dollars) in line with the bidding paper of Chon Tit.

It will be a six-lane bridge with double floors -- the lower floor will be shut down in common days and open only when typhoon hits the city.

Local government plans to sign an official agreement with the company at an earlier date and work is required to be completed within 28 months.

Chon Tit edged ten other companies from China's inland, Hong Kong, the United States, Japan and Macao bidding for the project, believed to be the largest one since Macao returned to the motherland at the end of 1999.

Work is expected to ease unemployment strains of Macao by generating more than 1,000 job vacancies. The authorities have repeatedly vowed to give priority to employing local workers.

The Macao Peninsula and Taipa Island were first linked by a two-lane bridge in 1974, greatly boosting the development of the island.

But the bridge found it increasingly difficult to undertake mounting traffic in the coming decade, prompting the second cross-sea bridge to occur in 1994.

Currently, the vast majority of Macao residents still live on the peninsular bordering Zhuhai City, while Taipa Island accommodates the Macao International Airport, the University of Macao, a large stadium, a horse-racing ground, three casinos and several residential quarters.