Thirteen years after construction began, eight years after it was intended to welcome prisoners, Macao’s new jail is structurally complete. The Public Works Bureau (DSOP) made the long-awaited update last Thursday.
There’s just one phase left to go for Macao’s new jail: setting up the 5 billion patacas Coloane complex’s IT security system. In November 2022, the DSOP indicated the new prison could open in 2024 – almost a decade after its initial target of 2015. It will have the capacity to house up to 2,700 inmates.
Repeated setbacks have delayed the four-phase construction project. Phase one started in August 2010 and wasn’t complete until 2016. Phase two of the prison was completed in 2019.
[See more: A bid to build Cotai’s new rehabilitation hospital has been accepted]
Phase three has been carried out by mainland Chinese-based firm, Shanghai Construction Group (Macau) Limited (SCG Macau), and began in 2019. While scheduled to be done by May 2021, Macao’s government extended the construction firm’s deadline several times. When SCG Macau failed to meet its latest deadline of April 2023, the government issued a fine of an undisclosed sum.
According to the DSOP, phase three of the new prison consists of four buildings and an underground carpark, with a total floor area of 38,108 square metres.
The complex is located in Coloane’s Ka Ho hamlet – 5 km from the current prison, near Coloane Village. There were 1,520 prisoners in Macao in 2021, most aged between 30 and 39. Macao’s current prison is close to maximum capacity.
