Around 2 billion border crossings have been tallied by the Zhuhai General Station of Exit-Entry Frontier Inspection since Macao returned to the motherland in 1999 and nowadays travelers are served by increasingly improved facilities and facilitated procedures.

The annual number of cross-border passengers has grown to 163 million from 28 million before Macao's return, while that of vehicles has increased from 1.06 million to 5 million. The Zhuhai General Station now processes more than 470,000 entry-exit individuals daily, accounting for one-quarter of the country's total.

In addition, the Zhuhai General Station has continuously facilitated customs clearance measures to meet the needs of different groups. Exclusive channels serve 1.8 million Macao students that live in Zhuhai year-round, the automatic extension of Zhuhai-Macao license plates saves hassle for 100,000 vehicles and 200,000 drivers, and green channels speed things up for more than 300 cross-border patient transfers every year.

Meanwhile, travelers with visas to transit through Macao have also been allowed to use self-service channels, while cars carrying those with physical disabilities need no longer be vacated for inspection.

Officer Cai Yiping on duty [Photo by Zhao Zi / Zhuhai Daily]

Gongbei Checkpoint's new Joint Inspection Building opened on Dec 2, 1999. Equipped with 66 channels with a designed daily capacity of 150,000, it was expected to satisfy border crossing needs for 10 to 15 years.

The building's capacity, however, reached saturation in fewer than five years due to a series of national polices under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) and others related to independent travel.

In 2002, Officer Cai Yiping herself inspected 540,000 travelers annually, a still unbroken record. Soon, Zhuhai stepped toward electronic custom clearance with self-service channels coming into trial operation at Gongbei Checkpoint in March 2005 and 24 such channels erected at its entry-exit hall in February 2006.

To date, the Zhuhai General Station has about 400 self-service inspection channels at checkpoints citywide, serving 80 percent of travelers with an average clearance time of 10 seconds each.

The second Zhuhai-Macao roadway passage -- Hengqin Checkpoint -- opened on March 28, 2000, while the first 24-hour passage came into use at Zhuhai-Macao Cross-Border Industrial Zone on Dec 8, 2006. In 2013, renovation and expansion of Gongbei Checkpoint was completed with the addition of 53 inspection channels. In 2014, Gongbei Checkpoint service hours were extended from 6 am to 1 am of next day, while Hengqin Checkpoint allowed 24-hour custom clearance.

In 2018, Gongbei Checkpoint added 50 extra self-service inspection channels, achieving the goal that waiting time for entry-exit Chinese citizens should not exceed 30 minutes. It has been the land checkpoint with the largest border-crossing volume in China for seven consecutive years and one of the busiest in the world.

On Oct 24, 2018, the pioneering "Joint Inspection & One-Time Release" mode was adopted by the Zhuhai-Macao border crossing facility of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, which has so for processed more than 2.6 million passengers.

The new Hengqin Checkpoint, which is to open soon, and the New Guangdong-Macao Channel (Qingmao Checkpoint) now under construction will also adopt this mode. The State Council has approved Macao's Lotus Checkpoint to be relocated into the new Hengqin Checkpoint, which will then have 69 jointly staffed inspection channels.