There are reasons to re-think allowing Macao-licensed vehicles into the crowded streets of its sister SAR, according to Hong Kong transport officials.
A new scheme permitting drivers from both Macao and Guangdong province to enter Hong Kong is set to launch early next year. At least initially, these vehicles will not be permitted to go beyond a parking area at the end of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge.
However, the scheme’s second phase – allowing Macao and Guangdong drivers to enter urban Hong Kong – is being questioned, Hong Kong’s public broadcaster RTHK reports.
[See more: The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has just turned five]
The broadcaster quoted Lam Sai-hung, Hong Kong’s transport secretary, as saying that an influx of extra cars would be problematic to an already heavily congested city.
“Hong Kong’s really small and we all know [that at] our tourist areas in Tsim Sha Tsui, or both sides of Victoria Harbour, parking there is really an issue,” he said.
“So we have to consider in detail what the arrangements are for cars coming from the mainland and Macao, whether limitations are necessary or something like that. We have to also look at Hong Kong’s actual situation.”
