A tender has been launched for the design of a construction project to build a new border checkpoint between the campus of the public University of Macau (UM) and Hengqin, according to a notice published by the Guangdong government late last week.
The 106-square-kilometre Hengqin island in Zhuhai City has been officially known as the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin since its inauguration in September 2021. The adjacent island is three times the size of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR).
The UM campus, located on Zhuhai’s Hengqin island, is under the MSAR’s direct jurisdiction on a plot of land covering one square kilometre leased from the Chinese mainland.
The current Hengqin checkpoint is a Macau-mainland joint checkpoint, where the MSAR exercises direct jurisdiction over a part of the checkpoint on Zhuhai’s Hengqin island, i.e., the Macau-side zone of the Hengqin joint checkpoint. It is connected to Macau’s Cotai via the Lotus Flower Bridge across the Cotai-Hengqin waterway.
The UM campus is connected to Macau’s Cotai via an underwater vehicular tunnel. In addition, the UM campus is also connected to the Macau-side zone of the current Hengqin joint checkpoint via a flyover – which can be used by both vehicles and pedestrians.
The new project – a tender for its design has been launched – will build a new joint checkpoint enabling border crossers to travel directly between the UM campus and Hengqin.
The one-square-kilometre UM campus is located south of the current Hengqin checkpoint.
According to the notice published by the Guangdong government, the new checkpoint will be located at the southwestern tip of the UM campus.
According to the notice, the new checkpoint will cover a gross floor area of 8,956 square metres, comprising 4,395 square metres at the MSAR-side zone and 4,561 square metres at the mainland-side zone.
The tender is for the design of the construction project. According to the notice, the project is expected to cost 194.33 million yuan.
Potential bidders are required to submit their quotations by 9:30 a.m. on November 23.
This undated photo downloaded from the University of Macau’s (UM) website shows part of its campus.
