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.