Congestion worry on Hong Kong's planned man-made border-control island

The expected high volume of visitors using the future 150-hectare man-made border-control island for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge could cause unique congestion problems, Islands District councillors said yesterday.

According to the government's feasibility study, the commercial use of the island will occupy between 300,000 and 500,000 square metres and include malls and hotels.

With a large flow of incoming visitors from Macau and the western Pearl River Delta expected to pass through, the study said six industries - tourism, retail, creative industries, logistics, conventions and exhibitions, and business and professional services - should be developed on the site east of Lantau Island.

This could generate issues for car parking, which should take future growth into consideration, councillors said.

The study said the malls should help alleviate the congestion at tourist hotspots in the city centre and blend with existing facilities at the AsiaWorld-Expo, next to Hong Kong International Airport, and the future expansion of Tung Chung new town.

In May, the Airport Authority said tendering for phase one of the city's largest shopping complex, to be built next to Terminal 2, would start later this year. The project consists of a hotel and retail centre with almost 200,000 square metres of floor space over five hectares of land.