The third session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) concluded at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday afternoon – and Macau NPC deputy Lao Ngai Leong submitted a written proposal urging the central authorities to support the construction of a new connection between the Hengqin International Financial Center and the Macau peninsula.
Lao did not elaborate which kind of “connection” between the two places he is considering – for instance, a tunnel or a bridge.
He also proposed that the central authorities include the border checkpoint between the Hengqin International Financial Center and the Macau peninsula in the nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan, calling for the adoption of a “cooperative inspection and clearance” model for passenger health quarantine, similar to the arrangement at the Macau-Hengqin joint checkpoint.
In separate written remarks reported by the Chinese-language media Jornal do Cidadão on Tuesday, Lao said that the sole connection between the Lotus Flower Bridge in Taipa and the Macau-side checkpoint at the Guangdong-Macau In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin hinders closer exchanges and interactions between the Macau peninsula and Hengqin.
Citing limited economic synergies and uneven strain on the transport network, he noted that about 80 percent of local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and traditional business facilities are concentrated in the Macau peninsula and that the absence of direct access complicates the ability of SMEs in the Macau peninsula to quickly connect with business development resources in Hengqin. He also quoted official statistics as noting that the annual cross-border vehicular traffic through Hengqin checkpoint reached about 2.4 million last year, of which the number of Macau single-licence plate vehicles exceeded 1.58 million, accounting for 66 percent of the total annual vehicular traffic, both figures representing a year-on-year increase.
Emphasising the development of Hengqin and Macau as a whole, Lao pointed out that Hengqin has been entrusted with four core missions, such as promoting a new platform for the appropriately diversified development of Macau’s economy and facilitating new opportunities for Macau residents to live and work there, in which Macau plays an important role in Hengqin’s efforts to accommodate Macau’s industrial spillover and to meet the livelihood needs of Macau residents.
Meanwhile, in another of his recommendations, Lao noted that the In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin has begun to yield results in the finance sector. However, cross-border investment and the financing sector still face developmental challenges. He suggested several measures, such as supporting Hengqin in broadening its cross-border investment and financing channels; encouraging innovation in cross-border asset transfer businesses; and promoting further innovation in cross-border financial leasing.
Lao said he hoped that the new connection would serve as an important link for the “hardware” connectivity between Macau and Hengqin, creating a comfortable and convenient cross-border travelling environment for residents of the two places, further promoting the in-depth integration of civil societies of Macau and Hengqin, while, at the same time, enhancing Macau residents’ identification with the “Hengqin-Macau integration” project.
This file photo taken last year shows the Guangdong-Macau In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin. – Photo: Xinhua
This undated and unlocated file photo taken from the Association of Returned Overseas Chinese Macau last night shows its chairman Lao Ngai Leong addressing a meeting.
