The main construction work on a bridge and tunnel project to connect mainland Shanghai with two of its major islands will be completed within the year, the city's engineering department said on Tuesday.

The two boring machines being used to build the main tunnels are progressing well under the Yangtze River between Wuhaogou in the Pudong New Area and Changxing Island, which lies between the mainland and Chongming Island, a spokesperson for the department said.

The machines are now just 700 m and 1,400 m from their destinations, and should break through by the end of the year, he said.

Also, the main construction work on a bridge to connect Changxing and Chongming islands, will be finished in the first half of the year, the spokesman said.

On completion, the bridge will be the third-widest suspension bridge in the country and fifth-widest in the world.

Zhang Huixia, an engineer working on the project, told China Daily the work is ahead of schedule, but declined to say by how much.

The original plan was to finish all construction work by July 2010, she said.

The project, which was launched in 2004, is designed to reduce the journey time between the islands and the mainland from one hour to 20 minutes.

The islands of Chongming, Changxing and Hengsha are separated from the mainland by the Yangtze River.

They are situated northeast of Shanghai and the three of them combined comprise Chongming County.

Chongming Island is the third-largest in the country, after Taiwan and Hainan.

People on the islands depend on ferries to travel to and from Shanghai. But in bad weather, the services are suspended for safety reasons.

Wang Jiqin, who works for Wusong Port, one of the two largest ferry operators, said about 30,000 passengers use the service every day.

"During Spring Festival, the number rises to about 80,000 a day," he said.

The poor transport links have led to the three islands lagging behind the mainland in terms of economic development.

In 2001, Chongming County was home to 5 percent of Shanghai's population but contributed less than 1 percent to its GDP.

The bridge and tunnel project are designed to help the economic growth of Chongming, the municipal government said.

(China Daily April 9, 2008)