The government’s ongoing public consultation on its draft urban development plan for “Eastern District 2” proposes that the Zone A land reclamation area will have four vehicular links with the peninsula.
Currently, Zone A is connected to the peninsula by one link only, at the busy Oriental Pearl roundabout (Rotunda da Amizade) on the peninsula’s north-eastern coast.
The 60-day public consultation, which started on Friday last week, will end on December 5.
Eastern District 2, which covers Zone A, is one of 18 “subareas for planning” listed by the Macau urban master plan.
The draft states that the 1.74-square-kilometre Eastern District 2 will be primarily earmarked for public housing projects.
Zone A, whose land reclamation was completed in 2017, currently covers an area of 1.38 square kilometres. The government’s ongoing public consultation on the draft proposes to further reclaim land in the waters between the north-eastern coast of the peninsula and the north-western coast of Zone A. After the newly proposed reclamation project is completed in the future, Eastern District 2 will consist of the current 1.38-square-kilometre Zone A and the future reclaimed area that will cover 0.36 square kilometre.
Zone A is currently also connected by a link to the man-made island where the Macau and Zhuhai border checkpoints of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) are located.
The government reaffirmed earlier this year that the ongoing project to build the fourth Macau-Taipa Bridge that will connect the Zone A and Zone E1 land reclamation areas is slated to be completed in the first quarter of 2024.
The government proposes that the draft urban development plan for Eastern District 2 will be valid until 2040.
The draft proposes that Zone A will be connected to the peninsula through a total of four links, namely A1, A2, A3, and AB.
The A1 Link refers to the current and only link at the busy Oriental Pearl roundabout on the peninsula’s north-eastern coast. In addition to the current link at the roundabout, the government is building a flyover in the area that will connect to Zone A by crossing over the busy roundabout. According to the website of the Public Works Bureau (DSOP), the Rotunda da Amizade flyover project, which got off the ground in March last year, is now slated to be completed next month.
According to the draft, the A2 Link refers to a flyover that will run from near the Macau Peninsula Wastewater Treatment Plant to Zone A. The government unsealed bids submitted by 15 construction companies for the A2 flyover project in June this year. According to the DSOP website, the government has already chosen and commissioned the winning bidder to carry out the A2 flyover project, which means that the work will start in the near future.
According to the draft urban development plan for Eastern District 2, the proposed A3 Link refers to a flyover that will run from near the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal to Zone A, while the proposed AB Link will connect the peninsula near the Macau Science Centre (MSC) in Nape and Zone A.
During a press conference on Friday last week about the draft urban development plan for Eastern District 2, officials pointed out that the A1 Link has been in use for a few years, while the construction of the A2 Link will get off the ground very soon.
The officials also said that the government has completed its preliminary studies on the feasibility of building the A3 Link and AB link, after which it will continue working on the final designs of the two projects.
In addition to the various proposed vehicular links connected to Zone A, the government is planning to build a sea-crossing Light Rail Transit (LRT) section connecting the Qingmao and Barrier Gate checkpoints and the Taipa Ferry Terminal in Pac On via the Zone A and Zone E1 land reclamation areas. The section is officially known as East Line. The ongoing public consultation proposes that Eastern District 2 will have four LRT stations.
The government’s draft of the urban development plan for Eastern District 2 and other details about the ongoing public consultation, which are only available in the Chinese and Portuguese languages, can be checked at: https://www.dsscu.gov.mo/zh_HANT/sites/uopge2
The Macau Post Daily published a report on Monday about the draft urban development plan for Eastern District, at: https://www.macaupostdaily.com/article15637.html
Meanwhile, the ongoing public consultation’s first session for members of the general public will be held tomorrow.
