HONG KONG, Mar 8 (AP) -- Beijing has given final approval to build a 29-kilometer-long (18 mile) super bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, state media reported Tuesday.

A feasibility report has been completed for the project, estimated to cost US$3.8 billion (€2.9 billion), the China Daily reported. No date was given for when construction would begin.

"We are going to make a big breakthrough in infrastructure co-operation between Hong Kong and the mainland," the paper quoted Ma Kai, minister of National Development and Reform Commission, as saying.

The bridge will connect Hong Kong with the gambling enclave of Macau and the southern city of Zhuhai, reducing traveling time by about half an hour, the newspaper said.

The private sector would fund the bridge, the paper quoted Sarah Liao, Hong Kong's secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works Bureau, as saying.

A bureau spokeswoman, Brenda Lee, declined to comment on the report.

Hong Kong officials hope the bridge will boost Hong Kong's economy by linking it with booming cities in neighboring Guangdong province. A former British colony, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.