6
to
be made
to transport
staff to Man Kam To and
Lok Ma Chau. The Director of Immigration suggests that it
would be more cost effective to bring the border crossings
into use 24 hours a day than merely advancing their opening
times by one hour.
13.
The full annual
the
staff costs for implementing all
paragraph 2 are $33.60M and the
recommendations in
annual RAE valuation is $23.76M. A detailed breakdown for
each phase is set out at Annex E.
14.
The Secretary for Security has advised that he
cannot spare any financial resources from his programme
areas for extending the opening hours or for manning any
kiosks. New and additional financial resources
additional
would have to be made available.
Land Departure Charge
15.
The Secretary for the Treasury considers that
bringing the crossing points into 24-hour operation could
also be a suitable opportunity to introduce a departure
charge on passengers travelling to China by road and rail.
He considers that the absence of this charge is
inconsistent both with the embarkation charges ($25) at
ferry terminals and the airport passenger departure tax
($150).
The opportunity should be used to bring
cross-border land passenger traffic into line with the
normal cost-recovery principles.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.