A third of residents surveyed want the former Macau Jockey Club (MJC) to be used for “public leisure facilities,” according to the Aliança de Povo de Instituição de Macau (People’s Alliance for the Construction of Macao).
The organisation – linked to Macao’s Fujianese community – recently surveyed around 590 locals about their hopes for the defunct racetrack, a sizable green space located in Taipa, which wrapped up operations in April after more than 40 years of horse racing in Macao. The survey was reported by the Macau Daily Times.
The next most popular option for the space was “cultural facilities” (getting 18.5 percent of the vote), followed by “health facilities” (on 13.9 percent), according to the alliance’s president, Chan Peng Peng.
[See more: Five things you may not know about the history of the Macau Jockey Club]
Chan noted that the results indicated that “the local population is very keen to increase public leisure areas in the city.”
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng has said the government hopes to construct a multifunctional venue on the land, possibly a sports and entertainment site with facilities such as an ice skating rink. He ruled out building either casinos or residential buildings on the former racetrack, which remains zoned for tourism and leisure under the city’s current master plan.
At the start of the year, the Macau Economic Association proposed building a theme park on the site. The association’s vice-president, Henry Lei, said he believed the park – if built – should feature both “Chinese and Portuguese cultural characteristics” to differentiate it as distinctively Macao.
