The central government will allow Macao to lease a plot of land from Zhuhai so that the Light Rail Transit (LRT) East Line can be extended to the Qingmao checkpoint, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng has announced.
Xinhua reported on Friday night that during Vice Premier Han Zheng’s meeting with Ho by video link from Beijing, Han voiced the central government’s full support for Macao in speeding up its infrastructure construction and appropriately diversifying its economy.
Ho pointed out that he and Han discussed a range of matters concerning Macao’s infrastructure development during the video conference.
In addition to the LRT East Line project, Ho said they also discussed Macao’s plans to extend its airport runway and apron and dredge its coastal waters to accommodate more aircraft and larger ships.
The Macao government is planning to build a sea-crossing LRT section connecting the Barrier Gate land border checkpoint and the Taipa Ferry Terminal in Pac On via the Zone A and Zone E1 land reclamation areas. The section is officially known as East Line.
According to a plan announced by the Macao government in 2020, the LRT East Line station serving the Barrier Gate checkpoint would be built so pedestrians could walk to the checkpoint in two minutes.
Ho noted that as a plot of land located next to the Barrier Gate checkpoint is owned by Zhuhai, a station of the LRT East Line could only be built on a location at the peninsula’s northern coast which would be quite a distance from the Barrier Gate checkpoint. He added that the LRT East Line could not be connected to the nearby Qingmao checkpoint in Ilha Verde by travelling under the Barrier Gate checkpoint.
Ho said that the central government had decided to allow the Macao government to lease the plot, which covers 3,000 to 4,000 square metres, from Zhuhai so that the LRT East Line can be extended to the Qingmao checkpoint. As a result, the station serving the Barrier Gate checkpoint can also be built just next to the bus terminal at the checkpoint.
Without extension to the Qingmao checkpoint, the East Line was initially planned to be 7.65 kilometres long.
After the central government’s green light for Macao to lease the plot from Zhuhai, Ho noted that the government will revise the design of the LRT East Line. He added that the government planned to invite bids for the LRT East Line project in November at the earliest.
The plot would be Macao’s third leasehold from mainland China, after the one-square-kilometre campus of the University of Macau on Zhuhai’s Hengqin Island, and the Macao-side checkpoint zone of the joint Macao-Zhuhai border checkpoint in Hengqin, The Macau Post Daily reported.
