Macau's revised public works wish list outlined
Macau's new transport and public works minister yesterday shelved more than half the pet projects of his disgraced predecessor while pressing ahead with others that are urgently needed.
A nervous Lau Si-io, delivering his first policy statement to the legislature, spelt out a list of priority projects to be undertaken next year.
His predecessor, Ao Man-long, was arrested last December for alleged corruption and is presently being tried on 76 counts of bribe-taking, false statement, money laundering and abuse of power in the Court of Final Appeal.
Ao's favourite project, a cross-harbour tunnel between Macau Peninsula and Taipa Island, was one of those shelved by Mr Lau. The project figured at the top of a list of nearly 20 large projects Ao announced days before his arrest.
The proposed tunnel, for which the government had received written bids, became a focus of the Ao trial.
Ao allegedly wrote 'undersea tunnel, Chon Tit' in his notes before any tendering process for such a project. Chon Tit stands for Chon Tit Macau Investment and Development - a subsidiary of the China Railway Construction Company.
Mr Lau said the tunnel project had been shelved because it would involve reclaimed land. 'We learned that we would need to report it to the central government,' Mr Lau said.
Unlike Hong Kong, Macau has no jurisdiction over sea water and any reclamation must be approved by Beijing.
The half-completed tender process for the tunnel plan had been scrapped, although the government may reconsider the project in future, Mr Lau said.
Also missing from Mr Lau's policy statement is the Science Centre project, for which Ao allegedly received kickbacks worth HK$6 million from Tong Lei Construction and Engineering.
Ao handpicked Tong Lei to win the HK$300 million deal, his trial has heard. Construction of the Science Centre has hit a snag and Mr Lau has yet to explain its fate.
A HK$4 billion light rail system, whose construction had no timetable in Ao's policy, tops the list of Macau's infrastructure projects for next year.
Construction will start in the second half of next year and is expected to finish in 2011, according to Mr Lau.
'We will encourage Macau residents to give up using cars and motorcycles,' he said. 'People, rather than cars, should become the priority for our transport system.'
One much-awaited project is expansion of the Border Gate, with the growing influx of mainland tourists overstraining the checkpoint, which now can handle 250,000 people a day.
Ao allegedly took bribes for earlier projects at the checkpoint.
Mr Lau said the government was eager to begin the project, which would double the checkpoint's capacity, but he did not give a timetable.
Early last year, Ao announced an ambitious reclamation plan to enlarge Macau by one seventh which drew Beijing's ire. Mr Lau said the government had revised the plan and submitted an application to the central government.
Priority shift
Topping the list of Macau's infrastructure projects for next year is a light rail system that will cost: $4b
