Goodbye to cross-border permits?

Motoring to Guangdong from Hong Kong will be easier starting March—but only for a few.

Owners of Hong Kong-registered private cas will be allowed to travel to neighboring Guangdong next month in the first phase of a scheme that should eventually pave the way for less complicated road travel.

In April 2011, Hong Kong and Guangdong signed a cooperative framework agreement to ease cross-border driving restrictions by launching a cross-border driving scheme.

The first phase of the scheme begins in March during which 50 Hong Kong-registered vehicles a day will be allowed to travel in Guangdong for up to seven days. This quota may later be increased to a maximum of 500 cars per day.

At present, only cars with cross-border permits are allowed to travel in both regions. Drivers must also be cross-border license holders. The procedure to acquire a cross-border permit is complicated and strict.

Hong Kong and Guangdong are working on the details of the second phase in which 50 mainland-registered cars a day will be allowed into Hong Kong for up to seven days.

Located immediately north of Hong Kong, Guangdong is one of China’s wealthier provinces. That wealth has been created by the port city of Shenzhen with a per capita GDP of US$15,000 for its 10 million residents as against China’s per capita GDP ofUS$8,000.

Shenzhen is the site of China’s first and most successful special economic zone. The city has drawn foreign investments worth more than US$30 billion.