A checkpoint connecting Hong Kong would be set up in Nan'ao, east of Shenzhen, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

The news was contained in a recent reply to lawmakers from the city's checkpoint office.

Each year Nao'ao, in Longgang District, attracts a large number of tourists from home and abroad. More than 2,000 people from Hong Kong and Macao visit the area daily. But restricted by its geographic position, minimal transport and infrastructure, the economic development of Nan'ao has been hampered. Lawmakers submitted a plan to build the Nan'ao checkpoint at the beginning of the year.

The city's planning bureau drew up the plan and the checkpoint office listed it as a new open checkpoint in a report to the central government. The proposed checkpoint would be a passenger and shipping point. Covering an area of 150,000 square meters, the checkpoint would have four special berths for 500-ton high-speed liners. It is estimated that there would be one million crossings a year.

(Shenzhen Daily October 22, 2004)