Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário promised yesterday that the total cost of three ongoing Light Rail Transit (LRT) projects, namely the Taipa-Barra section, Seac Pai Van section and Macau-Hengqin section, will not exceed 12.5 billion patacas.
The policy secretary made the remarks when responding to oral interpellations by several lawmakers, who raised concerns about the costs of the LRT system, during a plenary session in the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) hemicycle yesterday.
Macau’s LRT system currently only has the 9.3-kilometre-long Taipa section – which also covers Cotai, but its operation has been suspended since the middle of October due to the need to replace the system’s high-voltage cables.
The Taipa-Barra section will connect the island and Barra (which means “harbour entrance” in Portuguese) at the southernmost tip of the peninsula via Sai Van Bridge, while the 1.6-kilometre-long Seac Pai Van section will connect the still under-construction Cotai hospital complex – officially known as Islands Healthcare Complex – and the sprawling Seac Pai Van public housing estate in Coloane.
“Islands” is the official term for Taipa, Coloane and Cotai together.
The 2.2-kilometre-long Cotai-Hengqin section will include a 900-metre-long underwater tunnel. The line will link the Lotus Checkpoint station of the LRT Taipa section near the Studio City resort in Cotai with the mainland-Macau joint border checkpoint in Hengqin.
Replying to a question from legislator-cum-unionist Leong Sun Iok, Rosário underlined that the budget of the LRT Taipa-Barra section will “largely remain” unchanged at around 4.5 billion patacas as initially planned. He also said that the cost of the Cotai-Hengqin section will not exceed five billion patacas, while the Seac Pai Van section will not cost more than three billion patacas.
Consequently, Rosário said, the three new LRT sections are now budgeted at around 12.5 billion patacas.
However, Rosário said that for the time being he was unable to say how much the LRT East Line, which is still under planning, would cost. He reaffirmed that the government would only be able to come up with the budget for the LRT East Line project after deciding the winning bid during a public tender process.
Rosário noted that the budget for the Taipa section was initially 11 billion patacas, but the government eventually spent 10.2 billion patacas on the project. The policy secretary also said the Taipa-Barra section was slated to open at the end of 2023 or early 2024.
Asked by several lawmakers about the ongoing 180-day suspension of the Taipa section, Rosário admitted that the government had had “shortcomings” in the management of the LRT system, adding that he could not guarantee that the LRT system would not have other malfunction issues in the future.
Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário answers questions from lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday.
Photo courtesy of TDM
