The Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday unanimously passed a government-initiated bill enabling the Light Rail Transit (LRT) East Line to be extended to the Qingmao pedestrian border checkpoint by running under the Barrier Gate.
The new law will take effect on the day after its promulgation in the Official Gazette (BO).
The bill’s outline was passed during a plenary session of the legislature last month, after which the bill was reviewed by its 1st Standing Committee, before it was resubmitted to yesterday’s plenary session, which Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon attended, when it was voted on article-by-article in its second and final reading.
The ongoing LRT East Line project, which got off the ground in October last year, is a 7.7-kilometre-long section connecting the Barrier Gate checkpoint at the peninsula’s northern tip and the Taipa Ferry Terminal via the Zone A and Zone E1 land reclamation areas. The East Line will cross the sea between Zone A and Zone E1 through an undersea tunnel.
On December 29 last year, the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee in Beijing passed a decision to authorise the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) to exercise jurisdiction over a land and maritime area southeast of Zhuhai’s Gongbei checkpoint, enabling the Macau government to lease the area from Zhuhai so that the LRT East Line can be extended to the Qingmao checkpoint.
The new bill passed yesterday in its final reading, will enable the local government to formally administer the area in compliance with the MSAR’s laws.
According to the NPC Standing Committee’s decision, Macau’s leasehold of the area will expire on December 19, 2049, i.e., 50 years after the establishment of the MSAR.
The V-shaped area, which is currently still under Zhuhai’s jurisdiction, covers 3,700 square metres, comprising a land area of 1,439 square metres and a maritime area of 2,261 square metres.
The date of the transfer of jurisdiction over the V-shaped area from Zhuhai to Macau will be determined by the State Council in due course.
After the leasehold takes effect, the underground LRT station to serve the Barrier Gate checkpoint, i.e., the ES1 station of the ongoing LRT East Line project, can be expanded so that it will be closer to the Barrier Gate checkpoint, making it a shorter walking distance for LRT passengers between the station and the checkpoint.
During yesterday’s plenary session, Cheong underlined that in compliance with the NPC Standing Committee’s decision, the area will only be used for the LRT East Line project during its leasehold, adding that no buildings will be constructed there.
This diagram released by the local government shows the proposed design of the underground ES1 station to serve the Barrier Gate checkpoint, once the V-shaped area to be leased to Macau is transferred.
