Han Ximin

1824295095@qq.com

COMMERCIAL parking lots in Shenzhen will be upgrading their systems to automatically recognize license plates of vehicles registered in Hong Kong and Macao to meet the increasing demand for parking spots as qualified vehicles from the two special administrative regions are allowed to enter the mainland starting from July 1.

Currently, 10 parking lots, including those at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, Kingdee Software Park, Honghu Park, and Fuhua Science and Technology Building, have already completed system upgrades, offering 7,000 parking spots, sources from the Shenzhen Municipal Transport Bureau showed Wednesday.

The bureau plans to upgrade the systems in at least 10 parking lots located in areas with a high concentration of Hong Kong and Macao residents, such as Nanshan and Futian districts, as well as locations with significant parking demands like commercial areas, transportation hubs, hospitals, housing complexes and office buildings, by the end of July.

At least 100 commercial parking lots will complete system upgrades by the end of the year, according to the bureau.

Operators of parking lots that have not undergone system upgrades have been required to implement manual registration, QR code scanning and other measures to facilitate the entry and exit of vehicles from Hong Kong and Macao.

The transport bureau also revealed that for newly established parking lots, the automatic recognition of license plates from Hong Kong and Macao will be required as a standard feature.

Under a new travel program aiming to further promote economic integration in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, qualified Hong Kong and Macao vehicle owners can drive on roads in Guangdong via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge without undergoing additional security requests starting from July 1. About 450,000 Hong Kong vehicle owners are expected to benefit from the policy.

On each trip, Hong Kong residents traveling under the program can stay on the mainland for a maximum of 30 days, with the total number of days capped at 180 every year.