Silt testing and dredging work for the controversial Zone D reclamation project will begin by the end of this year, according to the Public Works Bureau (known by its Portuguese initials DSOP).
In a statement released earlier this week, the DSOP said it was seeking approval for the building of a temporary loading jetty to facilitate the work, which will eventually lead to a 570,000-square-metre residential site.
When complete, Zone D will occupy a site off Estrada Nordeste in the northern part of Taipa, between the Friendship Bridge and the Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge. The 1.53 billion pataca project threatens to change forever the northern Taipa shoreline and affect property values along what is now an affluent seafront strip.
The magnitude of the project has even sowed doubt in the minds of senior officials. In September 2020, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng asked residents to think “rationally” about whether Zone D was necessary and suggested that Macao would have a sufficient supply of land for housing without it.
Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário even said that the government had decided to cancel the project, which he thought would ruin a “beautiful” coastal area.
[See more: Construction waste island clashes with proposed dolphin sanctuary]
However, it appears that the central government permission required for such a cancellation was not forthcoming and the project is now going ahead.
During the tender process launched in May 2019, it was revealed that the maximum construction period of Zone D would be 1,350 working days and that it would involve 7 million cubic metres of backfill, using sand, soft subsoil and other inert materials.
