The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on Friday approved a bill authorizing the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to exercise jurisdiction over designated areas of the new Huanggang port.
The HKSAR government will assume jurisdiction over the Hong Kong port area of the new Huanggang port and related extension zones on a lease arrangement. The lease will take effect from the date the area becomes operational and run until June 30, 2047, with the possibility of renewal upon a decision by the national legislature.
The authorization is essential for the port’s co-location arrangement, under which clearance procedures from both Hong Kong and Shenzhen will be conducted at a single control point.
Located in Futian district, Shenzhen, Huanggang port opened for passenger clearance in 1991. It is the only 24-hour checkpoint between the two cities.
The new Huanggang port, being constructed next to the current location, spans nearly 700,000 square meters and will be equipped with 134 self-service channels and 68 staffed counters. It is designed to handle a passenger flow of 200,000 trips and 15,000 vehicle crossings daily. The passenger-handling capacity will be boosted to as many as 300,000 trips a day at peak times.
The new port’s main building has been almost completed, with equipment testing underway, Shenzhen media reported.
Apart from the co-location arrangement, the port will also apply a “collaborative inspection and joint clearance” mode that allows passengers to complete border clearance by queuing up and having their documents inspected only once. The clearance time will be shortened to around five minutes, according to the Hong Kong SAR government.
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The port is connected to Shenzhen’s metro line 7 and will be a terminus of Hong Kong’s Northern Link Spur Line, which is scheduled for completion by 2034.
Speaking to the media in Beijing, Starry Lee Wai-king, the SAR’s sole delegate to the Standing Committee, said the opening of the new Huanggang port will significantly ease the traffic flow and shorten the border clearance time, enabling Hong Kong to better integrate into and serve the overall development of the country.
She said the new port still needs to complete local legislative procedures and undergo a trial operation. After that, the Hong Kong and Chinese mainland authorities will determine its commissioning date.
Lee, who is also president of Hong Kong SAR’s Legislative Council, pledged that LegCo would review relevant draft legislations to be submitted by the SAR government, aiming to bring the new Huanggang port into service as soon as possible.