THE city officially started the reconstruction of Huanggang Checkpoint on Friday, which will make it the largest dock facility providing tourist services.
Upon completion and operation by the end of 2022, the newly built facility will cover an area of 87,500 square meters. The total construction area for the new checkpoint is set at roughly 400,000 square meters, exceeding the combined total of the other six checkpoints. The overall planning and design costs could run as high as 50 million yuan (US$7 million).
It has been designed to handle 200,000 border-crossing travelers a day. During peak days like holidays, it could reach a capacity of 300,000 people per day.
As one of the most important land border checkpoints in China, the new checkpoint includes a tourist inspection building, an inspection channel, a bus pickup and dropoff area, key inspection parking lot and a connecting layer for public transportation. It will discontinue cargo inspection services and become an inspection-only checkpoint for tourists and a “one station, two inspections” mechanism will be implemented, according to a report by the Southern Metropolis Daily.
The project will recreate the image of a city portal and build the checkpoint into a modern first-class hub, integrating intercity rails, Metro services and other public transport services.
Located in Futian District, Huanggang Checkpoint was the first checkpoint in China to implement 24-hour border crossing in January 2003. It is also the only 24-hour customs clearance checkpoint between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
In 2018, 252 million visitors entered and exited through Shenzhen checkpoints.
(Han Ximin) |