跨海通道工程跨专业评审会在香港召开，HETEC专家委员会全程参与Cross-disciplinary Review Meeting for Cross-sea Passage Projects Held in Hong Kong, with Full Participation by the HETEC Expert Committee

From October 15 to 17, the "Cross-disciplinary Review Meeting for Cross-sea Passage Projects," hosted by HETRA, was held at HETRA headquarters in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong. A total of 82 participants, including 36 appointed experts from the HETEC Expert Committee, ETRSC project leaders, and specially invited industry representatives, carried out three days of intensive technical review around four cross-sea passage projects under construction or planning in the Greater Bay Area.

This review meeting was the largest cross-disciplinary review activity organized by HETRA since its establishment. Unlike previous single-discipline reviews, this review specifically emphasized "cross-disciplinary collaboration": each project was jointly assessed by experts from at least three engineering subfields, covering the three dimensions of civil structures, electrical communications, and environmental ecology.

In the opening remarks, the President of the HETRA Standing Council stated that the complexity of cross-sea passage projects lies in the fact that negligence in any one subfield may affect the reliability and service life of the entire project. The independent expert review mechanism of HETEC is designed precisely so that judgments from different disciplines can calibrate and complement one another.

At the review meeting, experts reviewed key technical points one by one, including the deep-water immersed tunnel jointing process, anti-corrosion systems for cross-sea sections, structural fatigue of long-span bridges, and communications and monitoring systems for cross-sea sections. The review team also made multiple recommendations on long-term issues such as extreme typhoon loads, long-term evolution of seawater corrosion, and environmental impacts during construction. These recommendations have been compiled into written opinions and delivered to the relevant construction organizations for reference.

It is worth noting that this review meeting used a "case-comparison review" approach for the first time: every review opinion had to cite relevant precedents from the Engineering Case Library as references, so that the review would not become a purely theoretical discussion. This practice was widely recognized by the participating experts. In the closing remarks, Chen Liqun, a senior expert committee member in civil engineering and construction, said that what the engineering industry fears most is a review conducted behind closed doors without practical reference, and that using the case library as a review anchor is a good beginning.

The formal opinion document produced by this review meeting will be organized by ETRSC and delivered to the relevant construction organizations before the end of November. Some of the opinions are expected to be incorporated into subsequent engineering design optimization plans.

During the review meeting, HETRA also announced that in the spring 2026 project application batch, it will give priority support to cross-disciplinary project directions related to cross-sea passages, with funding amounts weighted accordingly. Detailed application rules will be announced in January 2026.