Lawmaker-cum-nurse Wong Kit Cheng, who heads the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) Follow-up Committee for Public Finance Affairs, said yesterday that the government would “actively” follow up on the causes of the long delays affecting the city’s new prison project and the building contractor’s failure to “proactively” resolve problems encountered during the construction process.
Wong made the remarks during a press conference in the Legislative Assembly building after the committee’s regular closed-door meeting yesterday, adding that a working group for the relocation and trial operation of the new prison has already been set up by the government to prepare for the move.
Macau’s current prison is located near Coloane Village. The new jail will be located on a hill in the hamlet of Ka Ho, and the government now expects the penitentiary to come into use in 2024, according to Wong.
Wong said that some committee members had expressed concern about the delays in the new prison project and had asked the government to explain the predicament.
Wong quoted the government as saying that the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the reasons for the delay, which had led the contractor not taking the initiative to solve the problems encountered during the construction process.
According to Wong, the government was now aiming for the third phase of the project – which has been repeatedly delayed – to be completed this month or next month.
The first phase of the new prison project was completed in 2016, while the second phase was finished in 2019.
The new prison project comprising four phases started in 2010 and was initially scheduled to be completed at the end of 2014, but the project is far behind schedule, according to previous local media reports.
Wong said that the fourth phase, which is to set up the prison’s IT security system, among other things, had commenced at the end of last month and would be completed within a year or a year and a half.
Lawmaker-cum-nurse Wong Kit Cheng (right), who heads the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) Follow-up Committee for Public Finance Affairs, addresses yesterday’s press conference in the Legislative Assembly building immediately after the committee’s closed-door meeting, while legislator-cum Macau Association of Banks Chairman Ip Sio Kai looks on. – Photo: Ginnie Liang
