A senior member of the Macau Institution of Engineers, Leong Hong Sai, said on Thursday that his group was proposing reclaiming land along the west coast of the peninsula 5.5 metres higher than the current sea level.
Leong, who chairs the association’s supervisory board, spoke to reporters in a tea house in Rua de Cinco de Outubro where some 50 shop owners from the Inner Harbour area discussed flood prevention projects for the area. The meeting was organised by the Macau Central and Southern District Industry and Commerce Federation.
According to the Macau Post Daily, Leong is one of the candidates of the electoral group Progress Promotion Union (UPP), No. 2 on the ballot in Sunday’s direct legislative election.
Leong, a civil engineer, said his association was proposing the reclaimed land to stretch 30 to 40 metres from the current waterfront. According to him, the current Inner Harbour embankment is three metres above normal sea level.
Leong said his association proposes that the new embankment be more than five metres high to prevent floods when there is a strong typhoon coinciding with a high tide.
Leong said that during the Typhoon Hato onslaught last month, the storm surge was recorded at more than five metres, resulting in severe flooding in the Inner Harbour.
Leong said his association was also proposing the construction of underground reservoirs to be built under the proposed reclaimed land to allow the water to run into them when there is torrential rain or a strong typhoon.
His association has submitted the proposal to the government.
