HK ready for mainland visitors inflow in coming holidays ( 2003-09-29 16:28) (Xinhua)
Boundary control points between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong are poised
to cope with the inflow of mainland visitors during the National Day Golden
Week, Hong Kong's Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee said Monday.
Measures have been drawn up to enhance the flow of visitors, increase the
capacity of transportation facilities, and step up promotion and information
dissemination to visitors, said Lee.
Additional staff from the Immigration Department, Police and Customs and
Excise Department will be sent to control points during the coming rush period,
he added.
To facilitate clearance, "expeditious immigration clearance" and new
optical-character-recognition readers have been introduced at busier control
points to increase the handling capacity.
Lee visited the Joint Command Center at Lo Wu which had become operational
from Sept. 27 to monitor visitor flow and traffic situation at land boundary
control points and to take prompt action if necessary.
Major improvement works at the Lok Ma Chau control point have been completed,
with the number of immigration clearance counters increased from 35 to 50. This
will significantly improve the immigration clearance process, said Lee.
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