Capacity of up to 200,000 travellers per day
The Macau government has announced that the Macau-Zhuhai Qingmao pedestrian border checkpoint will open at 3 p.m. next Wednesday.
A statement by the Government Information Bureau (GCS) on Monday said that the opening date has been approved by the State Council in Beijing after it was jointly decided by the Guangdong and Macau governments.
The Qingmao checkpoint in Ilha Verde will be a land-border crossing for pedestrians only, the first of its kind in Macau.
A joint Macau-mainland immigration and customs clearance system officially known as “joint inspection and one-time release” will be adopted at the Qingmao checkpoint – a 24/7 operation – where travellers will be required to pass border controls only once when completing their departure and arrival formalities.
The Qingmao checkpoint project comprises three parts, namely the Macau-side checkpoint building, the Zhuhai-side checkpoint building, and the redevelopment of the Duck Channel – which runs along the Macau-Zhuhai border.
The whole Qingmao checkpoint project – including the Zhuhai-side checkpoint building – has been paid for by the Macau government, with the Guangdong government providing all the necessary support tasks.
The Macau government hired Guangdong Nam Yue Group Corporation Limited – which is owned by the Guangdong provincial government – to carry out the whole project, which got off the ground in 2018 and was completed in May this year.
The whole Qingmao checkpoint has cost around five billion patacas.
Monday’s GCS statement pointed out that the Guangdong and Macau governments agreed in 2012 to set up a new joint border checkpoint between Macau and Zhuhai – which was later named Qingmao – near the Barrier Gate-Gongbei checkpoints. The setting-up of the new checkpoint, the permission for which had been jointly requested by the Guangdong and Macau governments, was finally approved by the State Council in 2017, the statement noted.
Monday’s statement also pointed out that 100 e-channels (50 each for departures and arrivals) and four conventional channels (two each for departures and arrivals) have been set up at the Qingmao checkpoint.
The statement said that the Qingmao checkpoint aims to divert traveller flows from the ultra-busy Barrier Gate checkpoint, which is located 800 metres away.
The statement also said that the Qingmao checkpoint has a total capacity of handling 200,000 travellers per day.
The statement also pointed out that the Qingmao checkpoint will be the third Macau-Zhuhai checkpoint where the “joint inspection and one-time release” immigration and customs clearance system has been adopted, after the Zhuhai-Macau checkpoint of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) and the Macau-Zhuhai joint border checkpoint in Hengqin.
This undated handout photo released by the Government Information Bureau (GCS) on Monday shows the new Macau-Zhuhai Qingmao border checkpoint.
