The government-appointed Taipa and Coloane Community Service Consultative Council held yesterday its second plenary meeting for this year, during which council member Leong Meng Ian said that construction of a theme park in Macau should be considered.
Leong is a community leader from the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (colloquially known as Gung Luen).
Leong said: “Apart from the needs of tourists, in order to enhance the appeal of Macau for local residents, it’s essential to prioritise leisure activities that cater to their interests, encouraging them to stay and spend in Macau,” urging the government to make effective use of recovered idle plots – such as the site next to the Governador Nobre de Carvalho Bridge in Taipa which was originally planned to be developed into an “Ocean World” theme park – by fully utilising and optimising the coastline to develop thematic ancillary facilities and green areas with local characteristics.
Referring to the successful examples in Hong Kong and Zhuhai, Leong urged to the government to develop a harbourfront space with a view to improving the city’s image through new tourist attractions.
The “Ocean World” site, located next to the Governador Nobre de Carvalho Bridge in Taipa, adjacent to Estrada Almirante Marques Esparteiro, occupies an area of about 134,891 square metres. The site has been idle for more than two decades upon completion of its reclamation and land formation works. In 2020, the local government reclaimed the plot.
Back in 2005, Macau’s then Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam Pak Yuen told the media that many foreign investors and developers were “very interested” in developing theme parks in Macau, but many of these projects were still in the initial planning stage at that time and would only be submitted to the government after their completion.
In 2010, Macau Theme Park and Resort Limited announced that it would spend 10.4 billion patacas on a 200,000-square-metre site between Avenida do Aeroporto and Macau East Asian Games Dome to build a large-scale, non-gaming theme park. However, the company’s director Arnaldo Ho Yau Heng told reporters in 2018 at that time that, as a result of the new Land Law which came into effect in 2014, the development project that had been proposed for the construction of “Hello Kitty Land” or an amusement ride-themed facility was not approved by the government.
Meanwhile, during yesterday’s meeting at the Islands District Public Services Centre in Seac Pai Van, several fellow members also called on the government to pay attention to the continuous improvement of recreational facilities and the expansion of sitting-out areas in Taipa and Coloane.
The government-appointed Taipa and Coloane Community Service Consultative Council holds a regular meeting at the Seac Pai Van Community Complex in Coloane yesterday. – Photo: Yuki Lei
