Construction of the secondary school in the Macau New Neighbourhood (MNN) residential estate on Zhuhai’s Hengqin island has got off the ground, Macau Urban Renewal Limited (MUR) has announced.
The company has also announced that shops in the MNN commercial space are now scheduled to gradually open from next month.
The current school campus completed last year in the MNN neighbourhood will be used for kindergarten and primary school education.
The school with kindergarten and primary school classes run by Macau’s Hou Kong Middle School will start operating in the upcoming 2024/25 academic year. The school, officially known as Hengqin School Affiliated to Hou Kong Middle School, accepts students who are Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan residents, or those holding foreign nationality.
The future secondary school to be located next to the current campus for kindergarten and primary school education will also be operated by Hou Kong Middle School.
An MUR statement on Monday night said that the MNN secondary school project got off the ground on Monday last week. The secondary school will feature various facilities such as an outdoor sports field, a gymnasium, a canteen, multipurpose classrooms, and a carpark for teaching staff, the statement said.
The statement said that the secondary school project is expected to be completed in 2026.
The site where the future secondary school will be located covers about 20,000 square metres. The school will have five storeys with a gross floor area of about 28,000 square metres. The school will run up to 36 secondary school classes, with a capacity of accommodating about 1,200 students, according to the statement.
The statement said that the secondary school will adopt the classic European architectural style. Located at the bottom of the Xiao (small) Hengqin Mountain in the south, the secondary school’s layout is designed in a way that will integrate the hillside landscape into the campus, giving a feeling of spaciousness, the statement underlined.
The statement also said that green areas cover around 35 percent of the MNN total land area, providing residents with a comfortable living space.
MUR said last year that the current school campus for kindergarten and primary school education is scheduled to run up to 12 kindergarten classes and 18 primary school classes, with a capacity of accommodating about 1,050 students.
Shops to open from next month
Meanwhile, Monday’s MUR statement also said that various shops in the MNN commercial space, which are being decorated, are now scheduled to gradually open from next month.
According to the statement, the shop units will include a supermarket, a café, a “cha chaan teng” (traditional Hong Kong and Macau-style café), pharmacies, a convenience store, a hair salon, banks, and other retail shops.
MUR said last year that MNN shops were initially slated to gradually open from the end of 2023.
The MNN project, which got off the ground in 2021, was developed by MUR, which is owned by the Macau government. MNN home sales started on November 28 last year after the project had been fully completed.
Meanwhile, MUR announced in a statement yesterday that the MNN “Children’s Funday”, which was initially to be held on Saturday last week marking International Children’s Day but was postponed due to adverse weather conditions, has now been rescheduled to be held on the coming Saturday, June 8.
This undated handout photo released by Macau Urban Renewal Limited (MUR) on Monday shows the construction site for the future secondary school next to the completed kindergarten and primary school in the Macau New Neighbourhood (MNN) residential estate in Hengqin.
This artist’s rendition released by MUR on Monday shows the future MNN secondary school (top) next to the current kindergarten (right, bottom) and primary school (left, bottom).
