SB co-ordinates management of passenger and vehicular flows during Mainland’s National Day Golden Week (with photo)
The Security Bureau (SB) held an interdepartmental meeting today (September 25) to co-ordinate the management of the passenger and vehicular flows at various land boundary control points (BCPs) during the Mainland’s National Day Golden Week to properly prepare for the passenger traffic during the long holiday. The interdepartmental meeting was chaired by the Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung. Joining him were representatives from the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau (CSTB), the Hong Kong Police Force (Police), the Immigration Department (ImmD), Hong Kong Customs and the Transport Department.
“The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is closely monitoring the operation of the land BCPs during the Mainland’s National Day Golden Week. Relevant government departments will maintain close liaison and co-ordinate with one another to properly manage the passenger and vehicular flows, providing an orderly and smooth clearance experience for members of the public and visitors to Hong Kong. The SB will activate the Emergency Monitoring and Support Centre in a timely manner to closely monitor and co-ordinate the public order situation at various BCPs and facilitate interdepartmental follow-up actions where necessary to respond promptly to various kinds of emergencies,” Mr Tang said.
To ensure smooth and orderly operation of the land BCPs during the Mainland’s National Day Golden Week, relevant government departments will strengthen manpower as well as co-ordination of transport and cross-boundary services at various BCPs, including strengthening crowd management and increasing transport frequency. To cope with the anticipated heavy traffic during the festive period, relevant departments of BCPs have minimised leave for frontline officers for the flexible deployment and operation of extra clearance counters and kiosks for easing passenger and vehicular flows. Additional security guards will also be deployed at individual BCPs to provide crowd management support.
In addition, the Inter-departmental Joint Command Centre set up by Customs, the Police, the ImmD and other departments will be activated during the Mainland’s National Day Golden Week to monitor the real-time situation at various control points. The relevant departments will also maintain close liaison with the CSTB and Mainland counterparts, take timely contingency actions to flexibly deploy manpower at the BCPs and open more e-Channels and counters to facilitate passenger movement and vehicular flow, where necessary, to ensure smooth operation of the land control points.
The Emergency Transport Co-ordination Centre of the Transport Department will also operate 24 hours a day to closely monitor the traffic conditions and public transport services of different districts, including various BCPs and major stations, disseminate the latest traffic information through various channels and implement response measures where appropriate. If necessary, the Police will make appropriate traffic arrangements according to the actual circumstances, including arranging public transport to use the designated dedicated lane on San Sham Road to travel to Lok Ma Chau/Huanggang Port.
Members of the public and visitors can check the estimated waiting time at each land BCP via the Immigration mobile application to plan and arrange their itineraries. The ImmD will also upload the daily arrival figures for each control point to its website (www.immd.gov.hk).
Relevant government departments will continue to maintain close communication and co-ordination regarding passenger flow at the land BCPs during the Mainland’s National Day Golden Week, with a view to providing high-quality passenger clearance services for members of the public and visitors to Hong Kong.
