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The Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, said today (September 29) Hong Kong's boundary control points (BCPs) are poised to cope with the inflow of Mainland visitors during the National Day Golden Week.
Speaking at a visit to the Lowu and Lok Ma Chau control points, Mr Lee said an inter-departmental working group had drawn up measures to enhance the flow of visitors through BCPs, increase the capacity of transportation facilities, and step up promotion and information dissemination to visitors.
"Additional staff from the Immigration Department, Police and Customs and Excise Department will be deployed to various BCPs to cope with the expected increase in the number of travellers from the Mainland.
"To facilitate the clearance process, 'expeditious immigration clearance' and new optical character recognition readers have been introduced at busier BCPs to increase the handling capacity," he said.
Mr Lee also visited the Joint Command Centre at Lowu which had become operational from September 27 to monitor visitor flow and traffic situation at land BCPs and to take prompt action if necessary.
The command centre is manned by staff from the Immigration Department, Police, Customs and Excise Department, Transport Department, Tourism Commission, KCRC and Shenzhen authorities.
Mr Lee then proceeded to the Lok Ma Chau control point where major improvement works had been completed and the number of immigration clearance counters had been increased from 35 to 50.
"All these will significantly improve the immigration clearance process at the Lok Ma Chau control point," he said.
Mr Lee also saw the use a new X-ray system by the Customs and Excise for examining smuggling activities relating to goods vehicles and container trucks, such as unmanifested consignment, false compartments and altered structure.
Mr Lee said he fully understood that staff from the relevant departments would be operating under tremendous pressure brought about by the expected inflow of Mainland tourists during the coming rush period.
"I have every confidence in the ability of our staff in receiving our visitors and enhancing their travel experience in Hong Kong," he said.
End/Monday, September 29, 2003
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