Park will strain Shenzhen border facilities

The opening of Disneyland next month will further strain border-crossing facilities in Shenzhen, which are already stretched to the limit, a mainland official has warned.

Disneyland is due to open on September 12 and of the hordes of mainland travellers expected to visit the theme park, an estimated 70 per cent will come via Shenzhen.

A Shenzhen Border Control Headquarters official admitted border-crossing facilities were 'probably not enough' to accommodate the expected increase, particularly at Huanggang, the closest Shenzhen checkpoint to Disney. The Huanggang checkpoint was designed to handle 50,000 passengers a day but now has to process more than 150,000.

The authorities originally planned to expand the checkpoint by next month to make it capable of handling 250,000 visitors a day. But the expansion work was postponed to October.

Shenzhen and Hong Kong border authorities met last week to discuss how to handle the traffic flow. 'Both sides will encourage people to travel via Lowu checkpoint until the Huanggang border facilities are upgraded,' an official said.