Handover takes Macao step closer to Hong Kong

Macao government departments have begun installing equipment and performing tests and trial runs of Boundary Crossing Area facilities on its end of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.

The Border Control Bureau of the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department handed over the facility to Macao Customs Service at 12 am on March 15 (midnight of the 14th). Honorary contingents of 30 officers from each party conducted the handover so that Macao security authorities could be stationed at the crossing. Boundary security and public safety is now under their jurisdiction.

HZMB Macao Border Crossing Checkpoint

After the ceremony, officials from the Macao Customs Service, Public Security Police Force, Corps of Firefighters, Inspectorate of Macao Judiciary Police, and Health and Transport bureaus took up posts at the management area. Other units installed and adjusted facilities in the inspection building and on traffic lanes.

The HZMB Macao Border Crossing Checkpoint is on the Zhuhai-Macao frontier port island in south Gongbei Bay. A southwest road leads to Macao and the main bridge section extending northeast to Hong Kong. The Macao port seamlessly connects to the Zhuhai port and will be used to inspect travelers and vehicles.

The checkpoint is the largest of the three for the bridge, covering 658,000 sq m (.25 sq miles) with a floor area of 600,000 sq m (.23 sq miles). It came under construction later than the other ports on Dec 12, but only took a third of the time to be completed.

The port has a passenger inspection building, two parking garages, ancillary facilities, and municipal roads. They constitute three main buildings and 53 smaller ones, 12 viaducts and platform bridges, and more than 100 km (62 miles) of underground pipelines.

Handover ceremony

The motor route will stimulate economic integration of the west bank of the Pearl River Delta. It is expected to slash travel time between Hong Kong and Zhuhai from three hours to just 30 minutes when it opens later this year.

Convoy of uniformed officers [Photos courtesy CCTVNews APP, provided by the Government Information Bureau of Macao SAR]

Spanning 55 km (34.2 miles) across the Lingding Sea, the world's longest bridge-tunnel gives motorists and cargos quick access to Zhuhai and Macao from Hong Kong.

Starting from the island built off the coast of Zhuhai and Macao, the Main Bridge stretches 29.6 km (18.4 miles) to the Guangdong-Hong Kong border. The complex includes a 6.7-km (4.2-mile) underwater tunnel and two engineered islands for tunnel landings. Two three-lane roads are designed to allow traffic to move quickly and smoothly.