After nearly 20 years of wait, the Kinmen Bridge is finally going to become a reality rather than just an election promise.

President Ma Ying-jeou, and Premier Wu Den-yih both attended the groundbreaking ceremony, which marks the beginning of the construction process. In the future, the transportation time from Greater Kinmen to Little Kimen Islands will be 5 minutes only, and the Kinmen Bridge, as the world's largest span, is expected to boost the local tourism significantly.

After President Ma Ying-jeou, and Premier Wu Den-yih scooped the first shovel of earth at the groundbreaking ceremony, the construction of Kinmen Bridge officially started.

No one is happier than Kinmen residents, who have been waiting for the construction for nearly 20 years.

The 5.4-kilometer bridge links Hu-xia of Greater Kinmen and Hou-tou of Little Kinmen, with 4.78 kilometers are extended across the ocean.

Currently, it takes around 30 minutes to travel between Greater Kinmen and Little Kinmen, but with the bridge, it will take only 5 minutes to travel between the two islands.

Adapting a five consecutive span design, the bridge is expected to be the world's longest span after its completion in 2016.

The cost of the bridge is estimated at 7.5 billion NT dollars, and it will certainly become the new tourist attraction in Kinmen.

Kinmen residents have waited for the 5-minute drive way for nearly 20 years.

The bridge had been a campaign promise for both former presidents Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian.

However, once they were elected, construction of the bridge was put on hold, making the bridge a joke among Kinmen residents.

Now with the residents' expectation coming true, they are already planning to integrate various resources of both Greater and Little Kinmen, to make whole Kinmen area a tourism island.

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