Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Leong Wai Man and Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) Vice Chairman Francis Lui Yiu Tung announced yesterday that the revitalisation of the Lai Chi Wun area in Coloane will be carried out in two phases.
Both said that the project’s first phase, on plots X11 to X15, will include an exhibition hall on the history of the local shipbuilding industry and the area’s shipyards, offering guided tours, workshops and exchange activities, as well as a parent-child- and sports-themed venue covering multiple facilities for children to play such as scooters and bicycles, while the second phase, themed parent-child entertainment and culture and art, will focus on setting up a synthetic ice rink, building an innovative urban farm, and providing a working, exhibition and performance platform for local art and cultural groups, in addition to the establishment of a bookshop specialising in publications about fashion and culture, and a café.
The whole project also includes features such as sitting-out areas, landscaped gardens and art installations, as well as cultural performances in collaboration with local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and community associations, Lui added.
Both made the remarks during a joint press conference at the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM), which was also attended by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U, among other senior officials from several government entities.
On the basis of the existing facilities, Leong said, the revitalisation project will further explore the diversification of cultural and tourism experiences by creating a cultural, tourism and leisure space in combination with the historical settings of the Lai Chi Vun Shipyards, “preserving the memory of history and culture of the shipyards, while enhancing the area’s overall image and attractiveness”.
According to Leong, shipyards gradually started to be built in Lai Chi Vun (“Lychee Bowl”) on the waterfront near Coloane Village in the 1950s but went out of business in the 1990s. The Lai Chi Vun Shipyards constitute the largest area of shipyards still existing in Macau, showing “the evolution process of the ancient city of Macau, as well as the lifestyle of the era and the shipbuilding industry – one of Macau’s four old key industries, alongside the firecracker, match and incense industries,” Leong said.
Coloane, whose human settlements go back 5,000 years, came under Portuguese administration in 1864.
The Lai Chi Vun Shipyards on Plots X11-X15 have been open to the public since late June after their renovation. Leong said that her bureau, in the next stage, will restore the shipyards on Plots X3, X5 to X10, adding that the bureau was now carrying out the structural design, striving for their completion in the third quarter of 2026.
Lui said he expected the first phase of the project to be “basically” completed in the third quarter of next year.
When asked about the connection between the shipyards and the planning of an ice rink and an urban farm, Leong pointed out that the bureau considered the addition of different attractions in the context of both respecting the shipbuilding industry and taking into account residents’ preferences, underlining the “mutual respect and harmonisation” between the new attractions and the environment.
Plots X11-X15 gain ‘positive’ response: Ao Ieong
During the more than three months of the first trial opening of Plots X11-X15, Ao Ieong said, the response was “positive”, adding she believed that the participation of Macau’s six integrated resort (IR) operators could enhance the development of cultural industries and local SMEs in the area, thanks to the IR enterprises’ “more diversified and long-term” projects which would better leverage the characteristics and advantages of the six areas’ cultural resources.
In line with the government’s six new gaming concessions which stress the IR operators’ requirement to invest in non-gaming attractions, SJM, Galaxy, Wynn, MGM, Melco and Sands are taking part in the government’s ongoing programme to revitalise six historic areas in the peninsula, Taipa and Coloane, namely the Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro area, Coloane’s Lai Chi Vun Shipyards, the pedestrianisation of Rua da Felicidade (“Street of Bliss”) that will begin today, the Barra area, Pier 23 and Pier 25 in the Inner Harbour district and the area surrounding Mount Fortress, as well as Taipa’s Iec Long Firecracker Factory.
The government and Sands will announce their joint revitalisation project for the Iec Long Firecracker Factory area during a press conference this afternoon.
This photo taken yesterday shows the model of a traditional Chinese junk displayed at the Lai Chi Wun Shipyards in Coloane.
– Photo: Yuki Lei
Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) Vice Chairman Francis Lui Yiu Tung (second from left), Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U (fourth from right) and Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Leong Wai Man (fourth from left), as well as senior officials from the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM), Marine and Water Bureau (DSAMA) and Transport Bureau (DSAT), as well as an officer of the Public Security Police (PSP), look on during yesterday’s press conference about the Lai Chi Wun Shipyards’ revitalisation plan, at the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM) in Nape. – Photo: Yuki Lei
