A new customs office was unveiled in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province on Friday. Mou Xinsheng, commissioner of the General Administration of Customs of China, attended the opening ceremony.

 

It is the fourth such customs clearing facility in Shenzhen, a checkpoint on the western thoroughfare connecting Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

 

Shenzhen Bay custom checkpoint is to begin operation Sunday together with the HK-Shenzhen western thoroughfare, also to be put into service on the same day, the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China.

 

The thoroughfare, the fourth route connecting Hong Kong and Shenzhen, which are separated by a local river, consists of a 5,545-meter-long, six-lane highway bridge spanning Shenzhen Bay.

 

The customs checkpoint is situated on the side of Shenzhen, where customs officers from Hong Kong and Shenzhen will handle customs clearance procedures separately but in the same facility.

 

The western HK-Shenzhen thoroughfare is designed to accommodate 58,600 motor vehicles daily, or 40 percent of the traffic between the two places.

 

(Xinhua News Agency June 30, 2007)