Conditions at the Iec Long Firecracker Factory – hailed as a “milestone” in urban revitalisation when it was refurbished as a museum – have markedly deteriorated since it was opened to the public just five months ago, lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho believes.
According to a report in Hoje Macau, Pereira Coutinho alleged in a written submission to the government that the former factory had an air of “complete abandonment”, with overgrown vegetation and “degraded” structures, including “large walls, at risk of collapsing” in severe weather, now that Macao is entering typhoon season.
The lawmaker said that members of the public had complained to him about “a large amount of garbage, such as bottles and other plastic products” strewn across “extensive areas of vacant land” around the facility.
[See more: Iec Long Firecracker Factory site opens in Taipa]
He also claimed that staff at the attraction had taken to wearing thick rubber boots to protect themselves from snake and centipede bites.
When the former factory was revamped at the end of 2022, Cultural Affairs Bureau chief Leong Wai Man lauded it as one of Southern China’s best industrial heritage sites.
Consisting of an exhibition hall, souvenir shop and 400-metre boardwalk, the former Iec Long Firecracker Factory is open from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm daily except Wednesdays, when it is closed from 3:00 pm.
