Following is a question by the Hon Kenneth Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung, in the Legislative Council today (May 7):
 
Question:
 
     It has been reported that the project of the new Huanggang Port building is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Upon commissioning, the new Huanggang Port will implement the "co-location arrangement", and the time for immigration clearance will be shortened from the current 20 ‍minutes to 5 minutes. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) whether the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has discussed with the Shenzhen Municipal Government the commissioning date of the new Huanggang Port, and of the progress of the preparatory work for the commissioning of the port;
 
(2) given that, according to Government information, the new Huanggang Port will have a design flow of approximately 200 000 ‍passenger trips and 15 000 cross-boundary vehicle trips per day, whether the authorities have estimated the daily passenger and vehicle flows in the initial period after the new Huanggang Port is commissioned;

(3) as it has been reported that the new Huanggang Port will be connected to five rail lines, including the Shenzhen Metro Line 7 and the MTR Northern Link (NOL) Spur Line, and the Government indicated in its paper submitted to the Subcommittee on Matters Relating to Railways of this Council on March 31 this year that it was actively discussing with the MTR Corporation Limited for commissioning the NOL Main Line and Spur Line together by 2034 or earlier, of the progress of the discussions; and
 
(4) of the arrangements for public transport services, such as franchised buses, minibuses, taxis and cross-boundary coach services, upon the commissioning of the new Huanggang Port; as it is learnt that 24-‍hour clearance will be implemented at the new Huanggang Port, whether the authorities will allow public transport operators to operate overnight bus routes providing services between the new Huanggang Port and Yuen Long, Sheung Shui and urban Kowloon; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:
 
President,

     The Shenzhen Municipal Government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government have obtained the Central Government's support for the implementation of co-location arrangement at the redeveloped Huanggang Port to provide greater convenience for cross-boundary passengers. The new Huanggang Port building will be a multi-storey building with customs, immigration and quarantine clearance facilities and public transport interchanges for the Mainland and Hong Kong set up on different floors, laying the foundation for implementing the co-location arrangement at the new port. The new Huanggang Port will also adopt the new clearance mode of collaborative inspection and joint clearance to further enhance passenger clearance efficiency.

     In consultation with the Transport and Logistics Bureau, the reply to the question raised by the Hon Kenneth Lau is as follows:

(1) The superstructure of the new Huanggang Port building is currently under construction and the target is to strive for basic completion of the new port building by end-2025. The arrangements and timetable for the commissioning of the port are subject to further discussions by the two governments.

     To promote the progress of the Huangguang Port redevelopment project from multiple perspectives, the two governments have set up various task forces which are actively working together to take forward the tasks on various aspects, such as design and construction, clearance arrangements and cross-boundary transport. In addition, the task force for collaboration on planning and development of Hong Kong-Shenzhen control points co-chaired by the Secretary for Security of the HKSAR Government and the Vice Mayor of the Shenzhen Municipal Government holds regular meetings to oversee the planning and development of various boundary control point projects, including the works and progress related to the redevelopment of the Huangguang Port.

     Regarding the financial arrangement for the redevelopment of the Huanggang Port, the Shenzhen Municipal Government has agreed in principle to bear the design and construction costs of the entire project (including the Hong Kong Port Area (HKPA)). The HKSAR Government will bear on its own the costs of other items for the HKPA other than basic construction works, such as furniture and equipment required by various departments and the information systems necessary for the operation of the control point. The HKSAR Government will seek funding for the related items from the Legislative Council at a suitable juncture.
 
(2) The design flow of the redeveloped Huanggang Port is about 200 000 passenger trips per day, which can be increased to about 300 000 upon the commissioning of the Northern Link (NOL) Spur Line of the MTR, while the design flow of cross‑boundary vehicles is about 15 000 vehicular trips per day. The above design flow will be sufficient to meet the estimated demand of passenger and vehicular traffic during the initial period after the commissioning of the port.

     After the two governments have reached a consensus on the specific arrangements regarding the commissioning of the port (including the estimated passenger and vehicle flows in the initial period), advance arrangements for manpower deployment will be made. The HKSAR Government will, as always, closely monitor the actual clearance traffic during the initial commissioning of the port, flexibly allocate manpower and utilise innovative technology to meet the service demands at the port.

(3) The governments of Shenzhen and Hong Kong are jointly taking forward the NOL Spur Line project through the Task Force for Hong Kong-Shenzhen Co-operation on Cross-Boundary Railway Infrastructure. The detailed planning and design are anticipated to commence this year. The HKSAR Government will strive to implement the NOL Main Line and Spur Line projects simultaneously. The target is to advance the NOL Spur Line for commissioning with the NOL Main Line concurrently by 2034 or earlier.

(4) The co-location arrangement will be adopted at the new Huanggang Port. A public transport interchange will be set up in the HKPA of the new port for use by local public transport and cross-boundary transport services.

     With reference to the case of the Shenzhen Bay Port, the Transport Department (TD) will arrange various local public transport services (including franchised buses, green minibuses and taxis (including urban, New Territories and taxi fleet taxis)) to meet the transportation needs of passengers traveling to and from the new port. The TD will announce details of the relevant services in due course.

     As for cross-boundary transport services, the TD has been liaising with the relevant Mainland authorities on providing appropriate and adequate cross-boundary passenger transport services (including cross-boundary coach and cross-boundary hire car) with a view to meeting the travel needs of the public.

Ends/Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Issued at HKT 11:40

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