Lawmakers have passed a bill regulating the use of hazardous materials, however the government’s proposed permanent hazardous material storage site at Ka Ho remains on hold due to litigation issues.
The law is expected to take effect approximately one year from now.
Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak pointed out during yesterday’s plenary session that the government has been seeking a permanent storage site for hazardous materials, but that the proposed site, at the Association of Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers of Macao Ka Ho Integrated Service Centre, has been put on hold due to litigation issues.
However, Wong stressed that the authorities would not wait indefinitely and would continue to look for suitable sites and release further information to the public as it becomes available.
Wong said that the government has tried to find a new temporary hazardous storage site, but that plan has also been put on hold after the community objected to the location of the storage site.
According to previous local media reports, a temporary fuel distribution depot in Ilha Verde built-in 2011 is unpopular with residents there because of the potential threat it could pose to neighbouring areas, such as an explosion.
Wong said that the temporary fuel distribution depot in Ilha Verde was previously planned to be relocated to the artificial island of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Macao Port checkpoint, but the project was shelved due to the Covid-19 outbreak, resulting in the project still awaiting approval by the Urban Planning Council.
In 2015, the explosion at a hazardous chemical warehouse in the port of Tianjin municipality greatly alarmed Macao’s then-chief executive Chui Sai On, who ordered the city’s public entities to pay close attention to the number of hazardous materials stored here, as well as their chemical properties, Wong said.
Wong said the government plans to create a database dedicated to managing the quantity, storage and export of hazardous materials, and has authorised the Fire Services Bureau and the Land and Urban Construction Bureau to conduct inspections, The Macau Post Daily reported.
