TO facilitate exchange and transportation across the border between the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong-Macao region, Shenzhen continues to perfect its modern transportation infrastructure, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

The signing of a framework agreement on the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area on July 1 in Hong Kong under the witness of President Xi Jinping signals a full initiation of the collaboration and development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Daily report said.

Located at a central position in the area, Shenzhen is bound to play a pivotal role in traffic and transportation across the region. Its 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) on transportation plans to forge Shenzhen into an international traffic hub that will facilitate an integrated transportation system and lead the development of cities in the Greater Bay Area.

One of the major projects of the collaboration, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-speed Railway has yet to link Shenzhen and Hong Kong, but according to a person in charge at Shenzhen’s rail work office, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong link is ready for a test run this month, after a year of adjusting and debugging.

In hopefully a year’s time, the railway will be open for traffic, shortening the travel time between the two cities to a little over 10 minutes. The project will enable Hong Kong to finally be a part of the national railroad system and it will link the Greater Bay Area completely by rail.

Every traffic hub requires a well-equipped international aviation hinge and Shenzhen is currently working on constructing and improving its airport, reported People.cn.

Continuous improvements of the Shenzhen port infrastructure similarly aim to connect countries along the Belt and Road, and collaborate with Hong Kong port. (Chen Manqi)