3am closing in the works for Lo Wu, Lok Ma Chau

The Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau border crossings might extend operating hours to 3am on special occasions including major holidays.

Roundtable legislator Michael Tien Puk-sun also said yesterday that he had heard from administration insiders the multiple-entry arrangement for Shenzhen residents will resume in mid-February before the Lunar New Year holiday.

Tien said on the sidelines of the Legislative Council that Hong Kong and Shenzhen officials are in talks about extending the operating hours of Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau ports to 3am instead of closing them at 12am and 10.30pm respectively.

"The MTR has reservations about opening the ports round the clock as this might affect repair and maintenance schedules and service operations," Tien said. But, he added, the rail operator can run overnight services until as late as 3am on specific days.

It is also not feasible to open the crossings 24/7. He added: "If the two rail-based ports open 24 hours daily that means all railway lines have to operate for 24 hours."

For land borders, Tien said it would be very challenging and hardly cost-efficient to open the border control points for 24 hours.

"Taking the Lok Ma Chau-Huanggang port as an example, passengers have to wait and take buses on overnight routes, before waiting for the cross-boundary shuttle bus on the Hong Kong side and then the shuttle bus on the Shenzhen side," he said.

"That takes them a lot of time. If all land ports have to operate 24 hours it will be very challenging to manage all the connections, and it is not cost efficient. Opening the ports 24 hours cannot be a regular arrangement."

Tien's comments came after thousands of mainlanders were stranded at train stations and cross-border bus stations after watching the New Year's Eve fireworks.

A spokesman later said the government is in discussions with mainland counterparts over ways to make it easy for cross-border tourists on special occasions or during big events, which includes extending the operation hours of specific border crossings.

MTR Corp said its executives have maintained close contact with the administration and will cooperate with policy decisions.

Tien also said Hong Kong and Shenzhen officials are hammering out details to resume the multiple-entry arrangement for Shenzhen residents before the Lunar New Year holiday.

The question is whether the arrangement should cover around two million Shenzhen residents or more than 10 million.

During the meeting, Tien added, the two administrations did not touch on parallel-trading problems, which has plagued Sheung Shui residents as well as other near-border districts.

"Everyone knows the parallel-trading problem no longer exists," Tien said. "And even if there are parallel traders they will not overcrowd the districts any longer.

"The government saw that many Hong Kong shops popular among parallel traders have already closed while the social environment has changed and retailers have been calling for help to stay afloat.

"Both governments opined it is time to resume the multiple-entry arrangement."

Raistlin Lau Chun, undersecretary for culture, sports and tourism, confirmed at the Legco meeting yesterday that administration officials have been maintaining contact with mainland counterparts regarding the resumption of the multiple-entry arrangement, but he did not offer details on progress.

michael.shum@singtaonewscorp.com