Following this week’s announcements regarding the phased resumption of the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS), Macau and Guangdong Province have agreed to open the new Hengqin checkpoint at 3pm on 18 August, and will adopt a “joint boundary control system” with Zhuhai city.
The original Lotus Checkpoint in Macau’s Cotai and the old Hengqin checkpoint with vehicle lanes to Macau will all move to the new Hengqin checkpoint upon opening, although vehicle lanes from Macau to Hengqin will remain at the current checkpoint until the second phase of construction is completed next year.
The maximum capacity of the new checkpoint is 80 million people a year, with daily capacity of around 222,000 people – roughly double the total visitation to Macau in 2019 of 39.4 million people.
The Macau government officially took over the new checkpoint and extension areas in March, giving the SAR an extra 66,428 square meters of space including the passenger clearance building, the entry and exit platform and the main body of Lotus Bridge.
The second phase of the checkpoint, due for completion at the end of next year, will include the vehicle lanes to Hengqin and a bridge linking Macau University. The third phase will add a reserved area linking to Macau’s light rail system.
The new checkpoint will operate 24/7.
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