Hong Kong and Guangdong province move a step closer as they combine electronic payments through smart cards, while allowing more private cars from Hong Kong to cross the border.

The advances in cross-border cooperation are set out in an agreement signed at the 14th Plenary of the Hong Kong-Guangdong Co-operation Joint Conference on Tuesday.

A two-in-one smart card will allow Hong Kong citizens to ride on public transportation and pay for purchases in Hong Kong and six cities in Guangdong.

All they will have to do is to wave their smart cards over a reader.

The new card will combine Octopus Card and Lingnan Tong, a transport card valid in the six cities across the Pearl River Delta - Guangzhou, Foshan, Jiangmen, Zhaoqing, Shanwei, and Huizhou.

The two-in-one card can be used in the same way as any ordinary Octopus Card in Hong Kong.

When in any of the six Guangdong cities, it can be used to take buses, taxis, subways, ferries, intercity trains, as well as to make small payments in convenience shops, supermarkets, and parking lots.

The new card is targeted for launch in 2012.

Octopus Holdings Ltd said in a statement on Tuesday that Hong Kong customers will be able to use the two-in-one card in more cities in Guangdong as Lingnan Tong gradually expands its coverage.

Lingnan Tong is intended to cover the entire Guangdong province by 2013.

The statement also said the new card will contain two separate electronic purses, one based on the Hong Kong dollar and one on the yuan.

That means card holders will be required to add value locally in order to make payments.

Like other Octopus products, the two-in-one card will provide the convenience of a negative value provision of HK$35 for its use in Hong Kong, the statement said.

Existing Octopus cards can not be upgraded into the two-in-one card, a spokesperson for Octopus Holdings Ltd said.

The new card will be an anonymous card, meaning there will be no collection of users' personal data, said the card company.

The spokesman said the two card issuers are still hammering out details on the operation and technology.

The merger of the two cards appears to bypass Shenzhen Tong, the smart card used in the bordering city.

Lingnan Tong had been expected to make its way into Hong Kong through a merger with Shenzhen Tong.

However, the initiative is yet to bear fruit, if not shelved.

The Octopus spokesperson said efforts are still in progress, but refused to disclose the current state.

At Tuesday's conference, both sides also agreed to launch a pilot scheme to introduce ad hoc quotas for cross-boundary private cars by next March.

Owners of private passenger cars from Hong Kong will be eligible to apply for a one-off license to drive in Guangdong.

Details will be announced by the end of this year.

A total of five agreements were signed at the conference, co-chaired by Chief Executive Donald Tsang and Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua.

The agreements include joint efforts in combating climate change, protecting intellectual property rights, and establishing an emergency notification system for serious failures in cross-border telecommunications network.

guojiaxue@chinadailyhk.com

China Daily

(HK Edition 08/24/2011 page1)