An estimated 8.85 million passengers will pass through land, sea and air control points of Hong Kong during the upcoming National Day holiday period, according to an official forecast on Sunday.

The figure is an increase of about 10 percent over the corresponding holiday period last year, says the Immigration Department of Hong Kong.

Between September 30 and October 12, about 3.40 million passengers, an average of about 262,000 daily, will pass through the Lo Wu control point which links Shenzhen City.

For inbound traffic, the busiest day at the Lo Wu control point is expected to be October 4 when about 196,000 passengers will arrive. Outbound traffic will be heavy on October 1, with about 206, 000 people leaving Hong Kong.

Passenger traffic at the Lok Ma Chau control point, which also links Shenzhen, will also be heavy with a forecast of about 1.43 million passengers, a daily average of 110,000. The busiest day at the Lok Ma Chau Control Point will be October 3 when both arrival and departure traffic will be very heavy.

To cope with the anticipated heavy traffic, the Immigration Department has suspended leave for staff working at control points and has arranged for extra officers to be posted at different checkpoints during the holiday period.

Additional security guards will be deployed at some busy control points to provide crowd management support, says the department.

(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2009)