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Extended terminal should be ready by next winter for services to Macau, with trips to the Pearl River Delta added later

Hong Kong's third cross-border ferry terminal will be built next year in Tuen Mun and should be ready by next winter, a source involved in the project said yesterday.

Once the terminal is completed, a  journey from Tuen Mun to Macau would take only about 30 minutes, half the time it takes to travel from Central or Tsim Sha Tsui, the source said.

Because of the shorter distance, the trip would be cheaper than the current $150 one-way fare on the Macau route,  he said.

The source said the company,  the new Hong Kong North West Express Limited, was granted a contract by the government early this month, and that it would  be signed on December 27.

The company will renovate  the  Tuen Mun pier and add a third storey  to accommodate immigration and customs counters.

'The new terminal will provide ferry services to Macau first. It will then extend to cover other ports in the Pearl River Delta, probably six months after it is in service,' the source said.

The  pier  has four berths. With one providing ferry services between the new town and Chek Lap Kok airport, three berths will be available for cross-border  services.

Hong Kong's  two cross-border ferry terminals - the Macau Ferry Terminal in Sheung Wan and the China Ferry Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui - have 25 berths and since 1998 have handled an average of 16 million  passengers a year.

Ferries serve  25 cities in the delta, including Zhuhai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Independent legislator Albert Chan Wai-yip, who represents  New Territories West, said residents  had been demanding a cross-border terminal in the area  for nearly a decade.

He said: 'Of course, the new service will make the life our residents easier. It is very silly that they have to go to the city centre to travel to the Pearl River Delta region, which only makes the journey time a lot longer than it should be.'

Mr Chan said fares from the new pier should be 30 per cent to 40 per cent lower than from the existing piers since the journeys would be much shorter.

A THIRD WAY

The new pier adds four berths to the city's existing 25

The trip to Macau will take 30 minutes and cost less than current services

Delta services will follow later



Tuen Mun to get cross-border ferry