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A hundred cars from Guangdong province are expected to enter Hong Kong’s urban areas on Tuesday – the first batch of mainland Chinese vehicles to drive into the city under a new cross-border travel scheme.
Starting from 12am on Tuesday, under the Southbound Travel Scheme, up to 100 private cars from Guangdong province are permitted daily to drive into Hong Kong’s urban areas after entering the city via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB).
The vehicles – equipped with Hong Kong’s new licence plates that begin with “FT” – are able to stay in the city for a maximum of three days.
According to the Hong Kong government, the first batch of those cars arrived in the city at around 12.50am on Tuesday after crossing the HZMB.
Speaking at an opening ceremony of a Southbound Travel Scheme information centre on Tuesday, Mable Chan, secretary for transport and logistics, welcomed the new scheme.
“The new policy not only facilitates the exchange of people between Guangdong and Hong Kong, but also encourages Guangdong residents to drive to Hong Kong for tourism, which will boost various economic activities, including tourism, trade, and exhibitions,” she said in Cantonese.
“Most importantly, this policy will shorten the distance between Guangdong and Hong Kong and enhance the integration of daily life for citizens in both regions.”
The minister, who appeared on an RTHK programme on Tuesday morning, said that Hong Kong police would handle Guangdong drivers who violate traffic laws in the same way as local motorists.
As the government gradually rolls out the scheme, it is hoped that drivers from Guangdong will adapt to driving in Hong Kong and that the city’s residents will become accustomed to non-local vehicles, Chan added.
The Southbound Travel Scheme is currently open to applicants from four Guangdong cities, including Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, and Zhongshan.
It will be extended to vehicles from other cities after six months, according to a government statement in October.
Since November, the scheme has allowed Guangdong drivers to enter Hong Kong via the HZMB and park their cars at the city’s airport.
The Northbound Travel Scheme for Hong Kong Vehicles was introduced on July 1, 2023, allowing local cars to cross the border and drive into Guangdong province.
Four months later, the then-transport and logistics chief Lam Sai-hung announced that the government would introduce the Southbound Travel Scheme by 2024.
Lam said at the time that Guangdong drivers would only be allowed to park at Hong Kong Port at the end of the bridge.
Chan, Lam’s successor, said earlier this year that Guangdong vehicles would be allowed to drive into Hong Kong’s urban areas from November.
The government did not say what caused the delay to December.
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Irene Chan is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press and has an interest in covering political and social change. She previously worked at Initium Media as chief editor for Hong Kong news and was a community organiser at the Society for Community Organisation serving the underprivileged. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Fudan University and a master’s degree in social work from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Irene is the recipient of two Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) awards and three honourable mentions for her investigative, feature and video reporting. She also received a Human Rights Press Award for multimedia reporting and an honourable mention for feature writing.
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