Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário has reaffirmed that the government will “certainly” build the East section of the Light Rail Transit (LRT), regardless of how expensive the project will be, as the LRT with its operation limited to Taipa and Cotai is “useless” in improving Macau’s public transport system, because of which, he said, the LRT network must be expanded.
The LRT East section will be a sea-crossing section connecting the peninsula’s Barrier Gate border checkpoint and the Taipa Ferry Terminal in Pac On via the Zone A and Zone E1 land reclamation areas.
The policy secretary also said that as the LRT East section will cross the sea through an undersea tunnel, the government expects its construction costs to be higher than the Taipa section project, on which the government spent 10.2 billion.
Rosário made the remarks while speaking to reporters at the Services Platform Complex for Commercial and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (PSCs) in Nam Van on Monday after attending a reception hosted by the local government to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR).
Macau’s first LRT, the Taipa section, came into service in December 2019. The LRT service of the Taipa section, which also covers Cotai, has been suspended since the middle of October due to a project to replace the system’s high-voltage cables. The government decided to carry out the cable replacement, which is slated to take 180 days, after detecting that the repeated technical failures on the line were caused by the overheating of the high-voltage cables.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Rosário said that the government had completed the preliminary design of the LRT East section in September, adding that the preliminary design would possibly need further improvements. After the government finalises the preliminary design, Rosário said, a public tender would be launched for the detailed design and construction of the LRT East section.
The policy secretary insisted that the government would only be able to come up with the budget for the LRT East section project after deciding the winning bid.
Taipa section only ‘useless’
Replying to media questions, Rosário said that the government will build the LRT East section regardless of how much the project will cost. “Everybody knows that the LRT network [in Macau] must be expanded. As residents say, the LRT with the Taipa section only is useless [for improving Macau’s public transport system],” the policy secretary said.
Rosário pledged that the government will constantly expand the LRT network with the aim of increasing the LRT’s effectiveness in improving the city’s traffic situation. He noted that the networks of light rail systems in various cities across the world have been gradually been expanded.
Rosário also said that building the LRT East section would be a special project for Macau as it will cross the sea through an undersea tunnel, because of which, he said, the local government has compared the costs of similar projects in a number of neighbouring regions and found that their costs were significantly different to each other. Consequently, the policy secretary said, for the time it is difficult for the local government to come up with an estimated budget for the LRT East section project.
DSSOPT director to retire
Meanwhile, Rosário also confirmed that Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) Director Chan Pou Ha will retire on January 14 next year – when she will have been the bureau’s director for two years.
Rosário underlined that he had still not decided who will succeed Chan, adding that the government will make an announcement “in due course”.
Chan became the director of the bureau on January 15 last year. She was a deputy director of the bureau from February 2009 to February 2015.
This photo taken earlier this year shows the Zone E1 land reclamation area outside Pac On in Taipa. Photo: Tony Wong
