Quotas raised for cross-border private vehicles on Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge
- About 1,000 more cross-boundary non-commercial private car quotas from Hong Kong side will be added to 800 existing allocations
- Transport sector lawmaker Frankie Yick says the move will benefit Hong Kong businessmen having ventures in Macau
Transport authorities have raised quotas for cross-border private vehicles on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, in the hope of making better use of the infrastructure that had remained underutilised even before the coronavirus pandemic.
Hong Kong’s Transport Department on Thursday said 1,000 more cross-boundary non-commercial private car quotas from the city would be added to 800 existing allocations.
“The additional quota will be distributed in the first quarter of 2021 and the quota holders are expected to be able to travel on [the bridge] starting from the second quarter,” a spokesman for the department said.
Half of the additional quota allocations would be for company applicants and the rest would be reserved for individual users, with the validity lasting for three years, he added.
Meanwhile, Macau’s Transport Bureau also said it would add 2,000 new three-year quotas for the casino hub’s private vehicles to access the bridge. Some 1,600 quotas will be used for private applicants and 400 for commercial entities.
The 55km (34 mile) bridge became the world’s longest sea crossing when it opened in October 2018, connecting Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macau in the Greater Bay Area.
Transport sector lawmaker Frankie Yick Chi-ming said the increase in quota would greatly benefit Hong Kong businessmen who had ventures in Macau.
“I don’t really think the additional quota is aimed to benefit typical private car drivers or tourism, but it will definitely boost business travel in the Greater Bay Area, especially when the coronavirus pandemic is over,” Yick said.
The Greater Bay Area is an emerging economic zone in southern China consisting of Hong Kong, Macau and nine other Chinese cities.
Yick said Macau required Hong Kong vehicles to be parked at its checkpoint as the casino hub did not have sufficient road networks to support the influx of cars using the mega bridge.
The Hong Kong government shouldered about HK$120 billion (US$15.4 billion) for the sea link, but its construction was marred by delays caused by workplace accidents, an investigation into allegations of corruption, technical obstacles and budget overruns.
The sea link was estimated to attract a daily traffic flow of 9,200 vehicles every day, but the average daily number of vehicles stood at only 4,792 at its peak in the first two years.
As Covid-19 grounded cross-border travel, the bridge has seen its usage drop as much as 94 per cent year on year, even though it is one of Hong Kong’s three border checkpoints that has remained open during the pandemic.
The bridge’s average daily two-way traffic flow on the Hong Kong side during the first nine months of this year ranged between 406 and 3,664 vehicles – including private cars, cross-border buses and trucks.
Everything you need to know about the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge
The severe downturn has hit the travel sector as Hong Kong imposed a mandatory two-week quarantine for travellers from mainland China to contain the spread of the virus.
In October, about 4,850 mainland Chinese travellers entered Hong Kong, a 99.8 per cent plunge compared to 2.5 million people the year before.
“Despite the pandemic, road traffic is still expected to resume greatly, but it will definitely take [much longer] to pick up,” lawmaker Yick said.
