Addressing yesterday’s Q&A session in the legislature’s hemicycle, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chon Weng said that the government was proposing to build four schools on the plot of land where the city’s greyhound racetrack is located.
In July last year, the government told the racetrack operator, Macau (Yat Yuen) Canidrome Co. Ltd., to vacate the property in Fai Chi Kei, a public land concession, within two years. The company’s concession to run greyhound racing will expire on July 20 next year. The company is headed by gaming executive-cum-lawmaker Angela Leong On Kei.
The government has hinted that if the company finds another venue suitable for dog races, it might be allowed to continue its decades-old business.
Tam made the remarks when answering a question from indirectly-elected lawmaker-cum-unionist Lam Lon Wai, on the first day of the two-day Q&A session about his portfolio’s policy guidelines for next year.
Tam and senior officials of his portfolio attended yesterday’s plenum in the Legislative Assembly’s hemicycle.
The racetrack operator has still not said whether they plan to continue running dog races elsewhere after handing the racetrack in Fai Chi Kei back to the government.
Some local commentators have called for the races to continue since they are a part of the city’s heritage. There have been suggestions that the greyhound races could be held at the Macau Jockey Club in Taipa.
Local animal protection group Anima urged the government earlier this year to allow it to take over the Fai Chi Kei greyhound racetrack for a year, after the operator shuts down its business there next year, so that the group has enough time to rehabilitate the hundreds of greyhounds for adoption overseas.
In his question, Lam, a vice-principal of the Workers’ Children High School, said the government should build schools and cultural, recreational and sports facilities, while keeping the existing stadium, on the plot of the racetrack in the future. The Workers’ Children School is run by the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (commonly known as Gung Luen), of which Lam is a vice-president.
Tam replied that the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) has proposed to the government’s public works and planning entities that four schools be built on the plot after the slated closure of the racetrack next year. He added that the proposed four schools would include a special needs school.
Tam said that the proposal to build four schools on the plot would finally allow some schools with campuses on the lower floors of high-rise buildings to move into their own buildings.
Some local schools still do not have their own campus and have their classrooms on the lower floors of high-rise buildings. The bureau said last year that there were 15 such schools at that time.
The government launched its “Blue Sky Project” last year to tackle the problem, when it said that it planned to solve the problem in 15 to 20 years.
Tam said yesterday the government now expects to be able to repossess more undeveloped plots of land in the future, on some of which schools could be built.
Tam also said he was optimistic that the “Blue Sky Project” can now be completed in less than 15 years. He said that it had been a conservative estimate for the “Blue Sky Project” to be completed in 15 to 20 years, as at the time when the project was launched he did not know that the government would repossess the plot on which the dog racetrack is located, and that he did not know either how many idle plots of land the government would be able to repossess.
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chon Weng addresses yesterday’s Q&A session about his portfolio’s 2018 policy guidelines in the legislature’s hemicycle.
This photo taken last year shows motor vehicles parked in front of Macau (Yat Yuen) Canidrome Co. Ltd’s. greyhound racetrack in Fai Chi Kei. Photos: Tony Wong
