FROM his 29th-floor office in the new Bank of China building in Macau, Professor Antonio Diogo Pinto can see an airport emerging from the sea.
And for the first time since he arrived 20 months ago, the chairman of the Macau Airport Franchise Co (CAM) can look out at the hundreds of small barges carrying sand from China to the reclamation area near Taipa Island, and feel confident they are doingsomething constructive.
Ground-breaking talks between Portugal and China in Lisbon last week mean that all outstanding issues regarding the building of the airport have been agreed, Professor Pinto said.
''Which means that we can now go ahead and make sure the job gets finished: it's all up to us now,'' he said.
The main sticking point in the lengthy diplomatic negotiations had been the air traffic details.
''But we have now reached an agreement with the PRC and Portugal: Macau will have the right to make bilateral [air traffic] agreements with any country in the world,'' Professor Pinto said, adding that Taiwan was probably ''a special case''.
Ultimately the Chinese authorities would build a central air traffic co-ordination centre for all the Pearl River airports, including Chek Lap Kok, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.