The Sports Bureau (ID) announced yesterday that it will organise an event for up to 10,000 participants to walk across the new sea-crossing Macau Bridge on September 29 before its opening, the date of which is yet to be announced.
Only Macau residents will be eligible to sign up for the six-kilometre walk, which will provide 5,000 places for individuals and 5,000 places for those joining the event in groups.
The government is yet to announce the bridge’s opening date, after its Public Works Bureau (DSOP) said in early July that the bridge could open before the end of the third quarter, i.e., by September 30.
Macau Bridge, the construction of which was fully completed earlier this year, will be the city’s fourth sea-crossing bridge connecting the Macau peninsula and Taipa island.
Macau Bridge connects the Zone A and Zone E1 land reclamation areas, which are both new urban areas. Zone A, on the peninsula side, is primarily being developed for public housing projects, which currently has still no inhabitants, while Zone E1, located next to the Taipa Ferry Terminal at Pac On, is earmarked for government facilities as well as commercial and residential purposes, where a number of government facilities have come into use such as the new Public Security Police (PSP) headquarters.
Details of the walk across the bridge to be held on September 29 were announced during a press conference at the Sports Bureau’s headquarters in Zape yesterday.
The press conference was hosted by Chao Kuok Wai, who heads the bureau’s Sports Development Department, and Lou I Wan, who heads the bureau’s Sports-For-All Division.
Chao said that in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR), his bureau will hold the event celebrating the inauguration of Macau Bridge before its opening.
Chao said that Macau Bridge, an important link between the peninsula and Taipa, is a new landmark representing Macau’s rapid development.
Consequently, Chao said, holding a walk across the soon-to-open Macau Bridge will be particularly significant.
‘Beautiful cityscape, energetic features’
The event will enable residents to participate in physical activities while experiencing the new bridge and admiring Macau’s beautiful cityscape, Kuok said.
The Sports Bureau expects the event, according to Kuok, to be able to showcase Macau’s healthy and “energetic features” and encourage residents to participate in physical exercises, in compliance with the government’s goal of developing Macau into a healthy city.
The 3,085-metre-long Macau Bridge has eight vehicular lanes – four in each direction, with one lane in each direction for motorcycles only.
According to yesterday’s press conference, the participants will start their walk at the bridge’s spur at Pac On in Taipa. After arriving at the bridge’s spur in Zone A, they will walk back to Taipa. The walk will be around six kilometres long, which is expected to take one and a half hours.
The entrance to the event will be located outside the Taipa Ferry Terminal.
According to the press conference, the activity will have 10,000 places, comprising 5,000 places for those participating individually and 5,000 places for those joining the event in groups. Each team can comprise between 20 and 150 walkers.
Only Macau residents will be eligible to sign up for the walk, which will be free of charge.
Potential participants can only sign up for the event through online registration, which will run between 10 a.m. on Thursday and 9 p.m. on Saturday for those joining the event in groups, while the registration for individual walkers will run between 10 a.m. on Sunday and 9 p.m. on Tuesday next week.
The online registration will be operated on a first-come-first-served basis, meaning that it will end when all places have been filled up.
On the day of the walk on September 29, the organisers will start at 7 a.m. calling for the groups’ participants to arrive at the walk’s starting location before their walk is scheduled to start at 8 a.m.
The organisers will start at 8:30 a.m. calling for individual participants to arrive at the walk’s starting location before their walk is scheduled to start at 9 a.m.
According to the press conference, those who have signed up for the walk will be given a commemorative bracelet, which they will be required to wear when participating in the event on September 29. They can collect their bracelet between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. from Thursday next week to Saturday next week at Macau Forum in Zape or Macau Stadium in Taipa.
Details of the walk, available in Chinese and Portuguese, can be accessed at: https://www.sport.gov.mo/zh/calendary/type/item/id/11053.
Sports Bureau (ID) Sports Development Department chief Chao Kuok Wai (right) and Sports-For-All Division chief Lou I Wan address yesterday’s press conference at the bureau’s headquarters in Zape. – Photo: ID
This handout photo taken and released by the Public Works Bureau (DSOP) in early July shows the completed Macau Bridge.
