Lawmaker-cum-current affairs commentator Ron Lam U Tou is urging the new government to suspend the ongoing project to build a sea-crossing flyover connecting the Zone A land reclamation area and Nape and tell the public as soon as possible about its decision on whether to revert the plans for the Zone A-Nape link back to an undersea tunnel as originally planned.
Lam made the remarks at MGM MACAU in Nape while speaking to reporters after a Spring Festival luncheon hosted by the legislature for the media on Monday.
Initially, the government planned to build an undersea tunnel for the future link between Zone A and Nape, before deciding in 2023 to build a sea-crossing flyover instead.
The new government headed by Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai took office on December 20 last year.
The ongoing Zone A-Nape link project with a price tag of 2.18 billion patacas, which got off the ground in October last year, is to build a 1,550-metre-long vehicular overpass running between an area near the Kun Iam Statue on the Nape waterfront and the southern area of Zone A, including a 900-metre-long coastal water-spanning section running under the Macau-Taipa Friendship Bridge and landing in Nape near the Macau Science Centre (MSC).
‘No eco-assessment nor public consultation’
Speaking to the media on Monday, Lam noted that previously when the government carried out a study on the feasibility of building an undersea tunnel connecting Zone A and Nape, it launched an environmental assessment while also gathering opinions from residents.
Lam said that, however, when the previous government announced its decision in 2023 to build a sea-crossing flyover for the Zone A-Nape link instead, it neither launched an environmental assessment nor consulted members of the public on the matter.
The previous government underlined last year that it had decided to build a sea-crossing flyover, instead of an undersea tunnel, for the Zone A-Nape link after considering various factors such as landscape protection, construction costs and technical difficulties, the impact of the respective construction projects on nearby existing facilities, and the extent to which a flyover or an undersea tunnel would be able to improve traffic conditions.
Some lawmakers, including Lam, as well as civic leaders and heritage activists have said that the height of the flyover project would exceed the official height limit for an area surrounding Guia Lighthouse on the top of Guia Hill.
The government said last year that the Zone A-Nape flyover, with its top to be 25.8 metres above sea level, is not legally defined as a building because of which it is not subject to the official height limit aiming to protect the view of Guia Lighthouse.
Lam said on Monday that “many” residents have said that the Zone A-Nape link should be an undersea tunnel instead of a sea-crossing flyover with the aim of ensuring the better protection of the view of Guia Lighthouse.
Lam said that after raising the issue with the previous government, he has also expressed his views on the matter to the current government.
Lam underlined that the government should respond to the “clearly seen” public opinion concerning the Zone A-Nape link and, consequently, suspend the ongoing project.
“Due to the clearly seen public opinion, I do not think the current government would continue with the flyover project, and decide to suspend it,” Lam said.
Lam said that if the government did decide to continue with the ongoing flyover project, he would gather signatures from residents for a petition.
Vehicles drive along Avenida Dr. Sun Yat-Sen on the Nape waterfront near the Macau Science Centre (MSC) on Monday where construction of a sea-crossing flyover linking with Zone A (left) started late last year. – Photos: Tony Wong
Lawmaker-cum-current affairs commentator Ron Lam U Tou talks to reporters at MGM MACAU in Nape after Monday’s Spring Festival media luncheon hosted by the legislature.
