The new Huanggang Checkpoint, which is now under construction, will adopt an arrangement of “one location, two inspections” in border crossing to encourage people-to-people exchanges between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
The checkpoint, scheduled to be put into operation in 2022, is one of the measures of Central and Guangdong governments to support exchanges within the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, each of which has an industrial park on the border of the two cities.
Geographically, Huanggang Checkpoint is the core area of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone and an important point in the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Science and Technology Corridor.
It will discontinue cargo inspection services and become a checkpoint only for traveler inspections. Upon completion, the new facility will cover an area of 87,500 square meters. It is designed to handle 200,000 border-crossing travelers a day.
At a news conference Wednesday, on the eve of the second anniversary of the release of the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of Guangdong Provincial Government said science and research personnel in the Futian Bonded Area (FBA), part of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong innovation cooperation zone, will be eligible to go through the FBA No. 1 Passage, a checkpoint that links Hong Kong and Shenzhen inside the FBA. Shuttle buses and other vehicle services will also be arranged for those working and going between the industrial parks inside the cooperation zone.
The 3.89-sqkm Shenzhen-Hong Kong innovation cooperation zone is an interlocked border cooperation zone with two industrial parks, one in southern Futian, and the other in Lok Ma Chau Loop area.
On the Shenzhen side, there are 370,000 sqm of space for scientific research in the zone and more than 100 projects including some from Hong Kong have established a presence or have shown an interest in doing so.
On the Hong Kong side, the first-stage of construction of three buildings will be completed by the end of 2024 and the tenants will be allowed to move in by early 2025.
At the news conference, the provincial authority also introduced progress of two sides in pandemic prevention and control, science, trade and financial cooperation, exchanges and cooperation between young people and cooperation in the public services.