Macau’s Public Works Bureau (DSOP) said in a statement yesterday that around 49 percent of the ongoing Light Rail Transit (LRT) Cotai-Hengqin section project, which got off the ground in March last year, has been completed.
The statement said that the work on the Macau-Zhuhai cross-border line has been carried out “smoothly” since its commencement.
The project is a two-station LRT line connecting Macau’s Cotai and Zhuhai’s Hengqin Island.
The Macau government has hired Nam Kwong (Group) Company Limited – the only state-owned enterprise headquartered in Macau – to carry out the project for a price tag of 3.5 billion patacas.
The 2.2-kilometre-long section between Cotai and Hengqin will include a 900-metre-long underwater tunnel.
The LRT Cotai-Hengqin section will link the area of the now-defunct Lotus Flower checkpoint building in Cotai with the Macau-Zhuhai joint border checkpoint in Hengqin.
The Lotus Flower checkpoint building was demolished after the Macau-Zhuhai joint checkpoint in Hengqin came into service in August 2020.
The Cotai-side station of the LRT Cotai-Hengqin section will be located in the area where the former Lotus Flower checkpoint building was located.
An interchange platform will be built connecting the Cotai-side station of the future LRT Cotai-Hengqin section and its adjacent Lotus Checkpoint station of the current LRT Taipa section, for LRT passengers to transfer between the Taipa and Hengqin sections.
The LRT elevated track will gradually descend from the elevated segment in Cotai and cross the Cotai-Hengqin river via an underwater tunnel before arriving at the underground station at the Hengqin checkpoint.
According to the DSOP website, the building contractor is required to complete the LRT Cotai-Hengqin section by September 2024.
Yesterday’s DSOP statement reported the latest progress of the ongoing LRT Cotai-Hengqin section. The statement said that for the Cotai-side station that will be called HE1, the latest completion rates of the station’s main structure, elevated-track structure and open-air tunnel excavation works have reached around 20 percent, 60 percent and 85 percent respectively.
The statement said that for the Hengqin-side station that will be called HE2, around 39 percent of the open-air pit excavation work of the underground station’s main structure has been completed.
The statement said that the overall completion rate of the LRT Cotai-Hengqin section has reached around 49 percent.
Yesterday’s statement also said that a one-way trip on the Cotai-Hengqin section will only take around three minutes.
This photo taken from the Public Works Bureau’s website yesterday shows the construction site of the Cotai-side station of the LRT Cotai-Hengqin section on Monday.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Works Bureau (DSOP) yesterday shows the tunnel excavation work of the ongoing Light Rail Transit (LRT) Cotai-Hengqin section.
