Macao, Hengqin Port Work Completed

The final port area in Macao and the expansion tourism security check section of the Hengqin Port in Zhuhai of South China's Guangdong province were completed on March 18 with approval of the State Council.

A major result of deep cooperation area between Hengqin, Guangdong and Macao, the port is expected to handle up to 80 million people annually, the largest of its kind in the world.

The port will be subject to the laws of the Macao Special Administrative Region and its opening date is still under discussion of the Guangdong and Macao governments.

Contracted by China Construction Second Engineering Bureau Ltd., the development project of the Hengqin port and comprehensive traffic hub covers about 1.31 million square meters in total. The section recently delivered is about 66,000 square meters.

Border defense and security of the area will be controlled by several departments including the customs, the Macao Public Security Force, the Macao Fire Service Department, the Macao Judicial Police Department, the Health Bureau of Macao and the Transport Bureau of Macao.

Security checks are taken separately in Hengqin and Macao at present but when the port opens, the two regions will carry out a new joint checking mode which will reduce customs clearance time between Zhuhai and Macao to as little as one minute.

An iconic infrastructure to improve connectivity between Hengqin and Macao under the "one country, two systems" policy, the Hengqin Port had resumed 95 percent of construction by March 18.

Construction of the supporting commercial zones, the deep foundation pit and the pile foundation of the super-high rise as well as the ramp road of the Lotus Bridge is progressing.

Upon completion, the port will be a model project promoting connectivity between Zhuhai and Macao and a model of integration of the construction standards and systems of the Chinese mainland and Macao.

It will also improve exchange of the factors underlying production such as land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship and help advance Macao's involvement in China's overall development.

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)