Inlanders are expected to be able to enter the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SEZ) with their identification cards instead of special passes later this year.

Checkpoint authorities say they are waiting for the local people's approval on the proposal, Chinese-language newspapers reported.

Shenzhen lowered threshold for entry into the SEZ last year by allowing women above the age of 55 and men 60 to get through without passes, a move widely acclaimed by inlanders.

Checkpoint authorities say they are preparing to install new equipment to implement the new policy. It will take only three seconds for advanced equipment to examine the present and new-generation ID cards. The equipment will also play a bigger role in identifying criminals.

More than 600 criminals were seized when they tried to enter the SEZ in 2003.

In the 80s, Shenzhen set up nine checkpoints between the SEZ and inland areas, connecting Xiaomeisha in the east and Anle Village in the west, a distance of more than 84 km. People without permanent residency permits have to apply for special passes before they are allowed to enter the SEZ.

The checkpoints are becoming a bottleneck for Shenzhen's economic development with the return of Hong Kong and Macao to the motherland.

In 1998, members of the Shenzhen Committee of the CPPCC first suggested dismantling the checkpoints between the SEZ and the inland.

(Shenzhen Daily January 12, 2002)