The severe downturn comes as the Hong Kong government has imposed a series of measures since the end of January to reduce the cross-border passenger flow in a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19, including a mandatory two-week quarantine for travellers from mainland China.

The usage of the bridge, hailed by President Xi Jinping as a showpiece of China’s power and innovation, peaked in May 2019 with a flow of 148,546 vehicles, while December 2018 saw the highest number of passenger trips – 2,217,855 – via the Hong Kong port.

The bureau also revealed that the recurrent expenditure for the bridge’s Hong Kong section in 2019/20 was HK$337.8 million (US$43.6 million), while for 2020/21 it was estimated at HK$65.3 million. There are no non-recurrent expenditures for that time frame.

However, it declined to reveal the toll income received by the Hong Kong government, saying it was the bridge authority that collects the tolls necessary to repay the bank loan and meet the daily operation and maintenance expenses.

“It is not appropriate for us to disclose relevant information relating to the income and expenditure, as well as the profit and loss of the bridge unilaterally,” the bureau said.

While the totals were unavailable, a special toll-free arrangement in effect during certain holiday periods and this past February – 54 days in all between February 2019 and the end of March – meant the government forewent about HK$19 million in tolls.

The Covid-19 crisis, specifically the need for the “smooth transport of goods and necessities”, was cited in explaining the inclusion of February 2020 in the toll-free arrangement.

Construction on the Hong Kong section of the bridge started in 2011, and was originally expected to open in 2016. But it was plagued by problems such as workplace accidents, a corruption investigation, technical obstacles and budget overruns.

Hong Kong’s bill for the project snowballed to HK$120 billion (US$15.4 billion).

In a special finance committee meeting at Legco on Monday, Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan Fan admitted the traffic flow at Hong Kong Port was, at about 4,000 vehicles per day, below what they expected, but insisted there was no need to review the bridge’s expected economic returns.

“I don’t think there’s any need for a reassessment of the bridge’s economic returns as all the facts have been revealed and cast in stone,” he said.

Chan said the government was still verifying the final cost overruns for the bridge and would give an account to Legco in due course.

Quentin Cheng Hin-kei, spokesman for the commuter group Public Transport Research Team, meanwhile, said the numbers did little to change his already dim view of the mega bridge, calling the project entirely unnecessary and a waste of public money.

He noted that both the vehicular flow and the number of travellers had been dropping since May of last year, despite a relaxation of the bridge’s vehicle quota.

“From the very beginning, I said that this bridge was redundant, as ferries could cope with the travel demand to Macau. There is no point wasting billions of dollars on something not cost-effective,” he said.

Cheng also strongly opposed the toll-free scheme.

“It defies logic. I can’t see how the toll waivers could help [contain] the coronavirus outbreak. On the contrary, it will encourage more vehicles to cross the border, thus increasing the contagion risk,” he said.

“Why couldn’t the government use this money to subsidise local people using the local tunnels such as the Western harbour tunnel?”