Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Leong Wai Man announced yesterday that the bureau has entrusted the Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations (known as Kai Fong in Cantonese) to temporarily relocate a shrine located outside the erstwhile Hotel Estoril to somewhere else before December, while during school holidays in December the bureau will carry out maintenance measures such as the pruning and protection of a stonewall tree which is growing near the shrine, in preparation for the start of building the new Central Library.
The shrine is located at the junction of Rua Filipe O’Costa and Estrada da Vitória.
Leong said back in 2020 that the new Central Library will have a construction area of more than 10,000 square metres, making it the largest library in Macau.
Leong made the remarks during yesterday’s press conference after the government-appointed Cultural Heritage Committee’s fifth plenary meeting this year at the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM) in Nape.
Leong said that a notice would be issued in due course to notify the public about the temporary relocation of the shrine, urging residents to pick up their religious statuettes as soon as possible, otherwise Kai Fong would keep the statuettes for preservation.
Upon completion of the new Central Library, a “suitable” location will be sought nearby for the permanent relocation of the shrine, Leong underlined.
When asked by a reporter about the budget and time line for the project, Leong said that the construction budget would be announced in due course, adding that the design work for the library was still unfinished at this stage and the decision on the construction details had not yet been finalised.
Leong underlined that the bureau was pressing ahead with the preparatory work for the project.
The bureau has put up scaffolding in front of the iconic mosaic mural on the façade of the old Hotel Estoril, and Leong pointed out that the mural is now undergoing final inspection, adding that the corresponding demolition of the former hotel and restoration works will only be carried out after everything has been well prepared. She noted that tenders for both the restoration and relocation of the mural have still to be launched.
Then IC president Mok Ian Ian said in 2020 that the bureau had “roughly estimated” a budget of 500 million patacas for the project.
No. of visitors in pedestrianised Rua da Felicidade triples
Meanwhile, during yesterday’s closed-door meeting, committee members were also consulted on the government’s cooperation with Macau’s six integrated resort (IR) operators in revitalising six old quarters, namely the Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro area, Coloane’s Lai Chi Vun Shipyards, the pedestrianisation of Rua da Felicidade (“Street of Bliss”), the Barra (“Harbour Entrance”) 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 and the peninsula’s Pátio da Eterna Felicidade and Rua das Estalagens.
According to Leong, the number of visitors to the Rua da Felicidade pedestrian area, which got off the ground during the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 29, reached three times more people than usual during the mainland’s eight-day National Day/Mid-Autumn Festival Golden Week holiday between September 29 and October 6.
As regards the effectiveness of the pilot scheme, Leong pointed out that the pedestrian area has just been implemented and the project’s effectiveness still needed to be monitored, adding that the bureau has received different views from the public about the location and opening hours of the street stalls, which would serve as reference before launching the next round of events there.
Leong also said she hoped that the pedestrianisation of Rua da Felicidade would encourage more business operators there to apply for assistance from the bureau to repair their buildings’ façades, adding that so far, however, the bureau had only received 10 applications.
Committee member Lok Nam Tak said during the post-meeting press conference that some fellow members expected the revitalisation projects to fully explore the features of each area and thus combine the characteristics of Macau’s mixed culture, as well as to reduce, as much as possible, the duplication of the contents in each area.
Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Leong Wai Man (right) and Cultural Heritage Committee member Lok Nam Tak look on during yesterday’s press conference after the government-appointed committee’s plenary meeting at the Macau Cultural Centre in Nape. – Photo: Yuki Lei
