The Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge (HKZMB) inauguration ceremony will take place 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Zhuhai border checkpoint, with operations commencing Wednesday announced Friday Macau government spokesperson Chan Chi Ping.
The Chief Executive, Chui Sai On, will attend the opening ceremony of the HKZMB together with his Hong Kong counterpart Carrie Lam.
“The opening of the bridge will foster the flow of people, goods and capital between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. It will certainly have an important influence in aspects such as Macau’s economic development and the territory’s participation in regional co-operation,” said Chan.
According to press reports China’s President Xi Jinping will open the Hong Kong-Macao-Zhuhai bridge, the first land link between Hong Kong Special Administrative regionthe west bank of the Pearl River.
At 42 kilometres, it is the world’s longest and most expensive bridge crossing the sea and cost US$17 billion; construction began in 2009.
The HKZMB is one of the key elements of the Great Bay Area (GBA), together with the high-speed train linking Hong Kong with Guangzhou that opened on September 23.
The GBA is one of China’s national economic strategies for the next 20 years. It includes Macao, Hong Kong and the nine largest cities of Guangdong province – Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Jiangmen, Zhaoqing, Huizhou, Dongguan and Zhongshan.
According a press briefing on Macau´s preparations for the launch of the bridge held Friday Macao is well prepared for the launch of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, and has made ready its checkpoint services and public transportation facilities serving inbound and outbound movement via the Macao boundary crossing area of the Bridge.
The Government held a press briefing on Friday to report progress on Macau’s preparations prior to the opening of the Bridge on Wednesday.
The facilities offering boundary crossing services for passengers and vehicles travelling between Macau and Hong Kong will be open 24 hours a day, once the Bridge is launched.
For the Zhuhai-Macau crossing, the facilities offering clearance service for vehicles will also be open round-the-clock. However, in order to ensure appropriate allocation of resources in the early stages of the Bridge’s operations, the facilities offering Zhuhai-Macau boundary crossing services for passengers will be closed between 10pm and 8am the following day. During that time, Macao travellers bound for Zhuhai (and vice-versa) can use instead the Zhuhai-Macau boundary point vehicle clearance channels or the Hong Kong-Macao boundary crossing point.
Customs clearance between Macau and Zhuhai will be carried out on a “Joint Inspection and One-time Release” principle, in order to make the process efficient for travellers using the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.
Under the new inspection system, travellers will be required to pass border controls only once – via either the automatic, semi-automatic, or manned channels depending on the identification documents – to complete the departure and arrival formalities.
Link roads between Rotunda da Amizade, the reclamation area Zone A on Macau peninsula and the Macau boundary crossing area will be open in order to serve traffic using the Bridge.
There will be two types of public transportation available for travellers using the Bridge. They are: regular bus services; and checkpoint shuttle services.
Checkpoint shuttles will be available to move people between boundary checkpoints.
There are two public car parks at the Macao boundary crossing area, which are located respectively at the east and west end of the artificial island serving that checkpoint. They are known as respectively the east car park and the west car park.
The east car park has a capacity for 3,000 private vehicles and the west one has room for a total of 3,089 private vehicles and 2,054 motorcycles.
Construction of the Macao boundary crossing area facilities commenced in December 2016 and fundamentals of the project were completed in December 2017.
The Macao boundary crossing area covers 71.6 hectares and has structures with a total gross floor area of 600,000 square metres.
Facilities at the Macao boundary crossing area comprise: 53 buildings – about 40,000 square metres of gross floor area – for municipal use; and about 200,000 square metres of space dedicated to infrastructure including a road network, tunnels, flyovers, railway platforms and other municipal facilities.
