After midnight on March 15, local security authorities were stationed at the Macau boundary crossing area
The Macau border zone of the world’s longest sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macau has been officially handed over to the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR), the office of the government spokesperson said in a statement.
The State Council formally authorized the handover of the artificial island at 12 a.m. yesterday in a ceremony, where authorities from Macau and Guangdong Province were present. The island comprises several facilities and hosts a number of services related to the administration, maintenance and security of the bridge.
In the ceremony, which took place at the Macau border-cross checkpoint building, a representative from the Guangdong Provincial government handed a to-scale model of the artificial island of the HKZM Bridge to local representatives, symbolizing that the defense duties of the territory had been delivered to the MSAR.
After the ceremony, officials from the Customs Service, the Public Security Police Force, the Fire Services, the Judiciary Police, the Health Bureau and the Transport Bureau were immediately stationed in the administration area to begin their duties administering cross-border and security services. The respective authorities began work immediately, installing the necessary equipment and making adjustments to the border check-point as well as building the vehicle crossing to prepare for the opening of the bridge and the passage of vehicles.
The Chief Executive (CE), Chui Sai On, visited the administration yesterday morning together with Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak, the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, as well as the Commander-General of the Unitary Police Services, Ma Io Kun, and the Director-General of Customs Services, Alex Vong.
The visit was an opportunity for Ma and Vong to present the new area under Macau’s administration to the CE and introduce works being done to prepare the new border checkpoint.
Chui took the opportunity to instruct Wong and Rosário, and urged the government departments responsible for the HKZM Bridge and the Macau Border Administration Zone to make good use of the time before the opening of the facility to install and test equipment in the building, reinforcing the need to ensure maximum precision and constant improvement.
The CE also stressed the importance of cooperation between departments as well as the importance of making appropriate adjustments to human resources as necessary to carry out inspection work with increased efficiency, especially by accelerating processes for border control for the benefit of local citizens and tourists alike. RM
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