The Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) said in a statement yesterday that it had never received an application from the owner of the former Lok Kok tea house building in the city centre to be given permission to demolish its outer walls, since the Cultural Heritage Protection Law came into force in March 2014.
A spokesperson for the bureau told The Macau Post Daily on the phone yesterday that the condition of the heritage-protected building’s exterior had worsened over the years so that some parts of the outer walls had caved in. The spokesperson insisted that the walls were not demolished by anyone.Local urban planner Rhino Lam Iek Chit told reporters on Monday he wondered whether the government had allowed the demolition of a major part of the building’s outer walls in line with Article 32 of the Cultural Heritage Protection Law.
A taxi drives past the listed former Lok Kok tea house building at the corner of Rua de Cinco de Outubro and Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro earlier this week. Photo: Tony Wong
