About 3.69 million people are expected to pass through immigration checkpoints during the Ching Ming Festival, up 8.8% on last year. The Immigration Department said today it expects 2.87 million people to travel by land, up 9.2%.

The peak period for passenger traffic will be from April 1 to 6. About 1.77 million passengers will travel through Lo Wu checkpoint, a daily average of 295,000, up 3.3%.

Departing passengers at Lo Wu are expected to peak at 190,000 on April 1, while arrivals will peak April 2 to 5 with 170,000 people returning to Hong Kong. Highest daily traffic is expected to reach 325,000 on April 1.

Lok Ma Chau checkpoint will see about 940,000 travellers, a daily average of 156,000, up 23.1%. Departures to the Mainland are expected to peak on April 1 with about 86,000 people, while arriving passengers are expected to reach a peak of 102,000 on April 2. Daily traffic is expected to reach a high of 169,000 on April 1.

The department has arranged staff reinforcements to man land and sea checkpoints during the festive period.

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 Kowloon-Canton Railway and Shenzhen authorities, set up a joint command centre at Lo Wu, and contingency measures have been formed to handle any untoward incidents.

185 e-channels

To enhance passenger flow and operational efficiency at land boundary control points, e-channels have been rolled out at Lok Ma Chau, with six e-channels each installed outside the arrival hall and departure hall. At Lo Wu, there are 98 e-channels - 44 for departure and 54 for arrival.

By early April, there will be 185 e-channels in operation at various control points. To encourage people to use the e-channels, two 'meeting places' will be formed at Lo Wu. They are on the ground floor immigration departure hall and at the KCR's new waiting concourse on the second floor.

Passengers travelling together but using different channels for immigration clearance can easily regroup after clearance formalities.