The local government has underlined that a maritime area about one kilometre off Coloane’s Hac Sa Long Chao Kok coast would be the “best possible” location for building an “ecological” island to be used for a construction waste landfill.
The government underlined the need for a new construction waste landfill because the city’s only construction waste landfill in east Cotai is nearing saturation.
The current landfill for construction waste, which has been used since 2006, is located near the airport.
Long Chao Kok at the south-eastern tip of Coloane island is located between Hac Sa (Black Sand) Beach and Cheoc Van (Bamboo Bay) Beach.
The central government granted Macau formal jurisdiction over its coastal waters covering 85 square kilometres in December 2015. The city’s current land area amounts to 33.3 square kilometres.
Some eco-activists and groups have expressed opposition to the local government’s planned ecological island project because of its perceived potentially adverse impact on Chinese white dolphins.
The Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) explained its stance on the matter in two statements on Wednesday.
Wednesday’s DSPA statements underlined that no construction projects and other commercial projects will be developed on the future ecological island.
The bureau noted that Macau is located at the west of the Pearl River Estuary, because of which the government’s possible choice of a location for the ecological island project is affected by various limitations caused by the mainland’s official “flood and sand discharge line” in the estuary.
Consequently, the bureau said, the chosen location for the ecological island project, i.e., about one kilometre south of the Long Chao Kok coast, would be the “best possible one feasible for” building the ecological island.
The bureau also said that the current construction waste landfill has been nearing saturation since 2013, because of which newly generated construction waste can only be put there vertically on top of existing ones since then.
This artist’s rendition released by the Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) on Wednesday shows the future reclaimed ecological island off Coloane’s Long Chao Kok coast.
This DSPA artist’s rendition released on Wednesday shows the view of the future ecological island from Hac Sa Beach.
