Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário said yesterday that the government expects the Light Rail Transit (LRT) East Line to open in 2029 after its scheduled completion in 2028.
Rosário made the remarks when replying to oral interpellations by lawmakers during a plenary session in the legislature’s hemicycle.
The ongoing LRT East Line project, which got off the ground in earnest in October last year, is a 7.7-kilometre-long section connecting the Barrier Gate checkpoint at the peninsula’s northern tip and the Taipa Ferry Terminal via the Zone A and Zone E1 land reclamation areas. The East Line will cross the sea between Zone A and Zone E1 through an undersea tunnel.
On December 29 last year, the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee in Beijing passed a decision to authorise the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) to exercise jurisdiction over a land and maritime area southeast of Zhuhai’s Gongbei checkpoint, enabling the Macau government to lease the area from Zhuhai so that the LRT East Line can be extended to the Qingmao checkpoint.
With the leasehold to take effect in due course, the LRT station to serve the Barrier Gate checkpoint, i.e., the ES1 station of the ongoing LRT East Line project, can be expanded so that it will be closer to the Barrier Gate checkpoint, making it a shorter walking distance for LRT passengers between the station and the checkpoint.
During yesterday’s Q&A session, Rosário noted that with the NPC Standing Committee’s authorisation of the Macau government’s lease of the 3,700-square-metre V-shaped area from Zhuhai, the ES1 station’s design will be revised so that it will be built closer to the Barrier Gate checkpoint.
Consequently, Rosário noted, the East Line project will see budget overruns and construction delays, even with just the ES1 station’s expansion and without the projected extension to the Qingmao checkpoint.
With the Macau government to exercise jurisdiction over the V-shaped area, Rosário said that the government will start to study the possibility of launching a project to extend the LRT East Line to the Qingmao checkpoint.
Despite being located east of the Barrier Gate checkpoint, the V-shaped area is currently still under Zhuhai’s jurisdiction.
The timing of the transfer of jurisdiction over the V-shaped area from Zhuhai to Macau will be determined by the State Council in due course.
Macau’s leasehold of the area will expire on December 19, 2049, i.e., 50 years after the establishment of the MSAR. The leasehold can be extended by the NPC Standing Committee.
According to a statement by the Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS) last month, the V-shaped area covers 3,700.178 square metres, comprising a land area of 1,439.13 square metres and a maritime area of 2,261.048 square metres.
The current LRT East Line project has a price tag of 9.28 billion patacas.
Without the extension to the Qingmao checkpoint in Ilha Verde, the LRT East Line will have six stations, including three stations in Zone A. All six stations will be built underground.
Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário (left) speaks during yesterday’s plenary session in the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) hemicycle as Public Works Bureau (DSOP) Director Lam Wai Hou looks on. – Photo courtesy of TDM
