CHINA'S top legislature yesterday authorized Hong Kong to exercise jurisdiction over the Hong Kong checkpoint to be set up in the Shenzhen side of the Western Corridor, Xinhua reported.

Under a bill approved by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) yesterday, Hong Kong will have the authority to exercise its customs laws and regulations from offices on land leased from Shenzhen.

The Western Corridor, which will be open by July 1, 2007, will be the two cities' first cross-border infrastructure project to have one-stop customs and immigration clearance.

That means the Hong Kong customs authority will set up its office in Shenzhen in conjunction with Shenzhen Customs.

The move will facilitate passenger and vehicle customs clearance, said sources with the NPC Standing Committee.

Shenzhen and Hong Kong will follow their own legal and law enforcement procedures in customs clearance.

Shenzhen and Hong Kong originally planned to establish their customs offices at opposite ends of the bridge. But due to difficulties in land reclamation on the Hong Kong side, the HKSAR Government asked for permission to lease a stretch of land and build its customs office on the Shenzhen side, which requires the solving of legal problems.

The Western Corridor is a 5.5-km, two-way three-lane carriageway from Dongjiaotou, Shekou, Shenzhen to Ngau Hom Shek in northwestern Hong Kong, spanning across the Shenzhen Bay.

The new link will shorten the travel time from Shekou to Hong Kong's Route 3 to 20 minutes, and will ease the heavy traffic at the other checkpoints between the two cities. Annual passenger flow through the checkpoints rose from less than 100 million in 2000 to 140 million in 2005.

The Western Corridor was designed to provide passage for 60,000 people and 58,600 vehicles each day.

Editor: Yan