Macao’s former canidrome in Fai Chi Kei is to be turned into a 40,000-square-metre sports park.
Earlier plans had suggested that four schools should be built on the site but Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon told the Legislative Assembly during a Q&A session about his portfolio’s policy guidelines for the coming year that there is sufficient space for them on the Zone A land reclamation area, off the north-eastern coast of the peninsula.
Cheong said that the new park would feature various sports facilities aimed at residents of the peninsula’s northern district, and that the government also plans to build an underground car park at the site.
Cheong said that the Municipal Affairs Bureau – which manages the city’s parks – is discussing the project’s details with the Sports Bureau and the Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau. He added that the park should be completed “in a few years”.
Plans for Macao’s once-legendary dog track have gone back and forth since it closed in July 2018.
The then secretary for social affairs and culture, Alexis Tam Chon Weng, told lawmakers in late 2017 that the government was proposing to build four schools, including a special needs school, on the plot as part of the “Blue Sky Project” that aimed to enable schools on the lower floors of high-rise buildings to move into their own premises.
In August 2018, the government announced a development plan for the former canidrome and the adjacent Lin Fong Sports Centre, comprising facilities for sports, education and community services.
Tam, who is now Macao’s representative in Lisbon, told legislators in late 2018 that the government had decided to designate the area earmarked for education facilities for the new campuses of Lou Hau High School, Xin Hua School, Santa Madalena School, and Concórdia School for Special Education.
However, representatives from the education sector had said that the proposed area earmarked for education facilities on the ex-Canidrome plot was insufficient for the construction of four schools, The Macau Post Daily reported.
