About 3.54 million people are expected to pass through immigration checkpoints during the Ching Ming Festival, up 9.1% on last year. The Immigration Department said today it expects 2.69 million people to travel by land, up 9.3%.

The peak period for passenger traffic will be from April 1 to 6. It is estimated about 1.8 million passengers will travel through Lo Wu checkpoint, a daily average of 299,000. Departing passengers at Lo Wu are expected to peak at 195,000 on April 2, while arrivals will peak April 5 with 165,000 people returning to Hong Kong. Highest daily traffic is expected to reach 330,000 on April 2.

Lok Ma Chau checkpoint will see about 720,000 travellers, a daily average of 120,000. Departures to the Mainland are expected to peak on April 3, with about 80,000 people while arriving passengers are expected to reach a peak of 82,000 on April 5. Daily traffic is expected to reach a high of 133,000 on April 3.

The department has arranged for 161 reinforcements to man land and sea checkpoints during the festive period. Among them, 140 officers will work at various land boundary control points.

The Lo Wu checkpoint will implement the contra-flow scheme to relieve congestion if needed. The department has, in association with Police, Customs, the Transport Department, the KCRC and Shenzhen authorities, set up a joint command centre at Lo Wu, and contingency measures have been drawn up to handle any untoward incidents.