Construction of the government’s high-rise rental residential tower for senior citizens on Plot P in Areia Preta district has been completed, the Public Works Bureau (DSOP) announced on its website yesterday.
The building has a total of 1,815 studio-style units.
The Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) is now assessing applications to rent a flat there after the first-phase application period ran until the end of last month. The first-phase application process, which started on November 6 last year, covered 759 flats. According to the latest IAS data, as of December 17 last year the bureau had received 1,406 applications since the application process started.
In general, permanent local residents aged 65 or over capable of taking care of themselves are eligible to apply for a flat there.
Construction of the rental residential building for seniors, which got off the ground in December 2020, was carried out by China Construction Engineering (Macau) Company Limited for a price tag of 2.098 billion patacas.
The Social Welfare Bureau has said that it expects to complete its assessments of the submitted applications in the next quarter, after which successful applicants can expect to move into the flats in the fourth quarter.
The housing estate has four podium levels from the ground to third floors. The fully furnished and decorated studio flats are located between the 4th and 37th floors, with the 12th floor used as the tower’s refuge floor, according to the IAS website.
The site where the rental housing estate for seniors is located, i.e., an area of Plot P, covers about 6,828 square metres. The estate has a gross floor area of around 125,000 square metres.
Each floor has 55 studio flats, each of which has a gross floor area of 53.21 square metres or a net floor area of 33.17 square metres, according to the IAS website. The building has a total of 10 lifts.
In addition, according to the website, the estate also has a three-storey underground public carpark, providing 345 parking spaces for cars and 134 parking spaces for motorcycles.
The estate, the first of its kind in the government’s housing programme, aims to help senior citizens living in low-rise walk-ups improve their living quality.
An area on the ground floor will be used for the operation of shops, while an area on the first floor will be used for a Chinese restaurant.
An area on the estate’s second floor will be used for clubhouse facilities, while an area on the third floor will be used for an outdoor podium garden.
The tenants of the first 759 flats will be offered a 20-percent discount on their rent during their first three-year lease, because of which the lowest rent for a flat will be 4,328 patacas per month.
Property management fees will be included in the rental fees. The tenants will, however, have to pay their utility bills.
The government is yet to announce when the second-phase application process would start.
This undated handout photo downloaded from the Public Works Bureau’s (DSOP) website yesterday shows the newly-completed rental housing estate for seniors on Plot P in Areia Preta district.
