The Marine and Water Bureau (DSAMA) will hold an opening ceremony for the Pac On Ferry Terminal in Taipa tomorrow morning, according to a media invitation sent out on Monday.
Government officials said earlier this year they expected the terminal to be finally operational by the end of this quarter.
The bureau has said that once the new terminal started operating, the Taipa Temporary Ferry Terminal, which is currently in use, would close for good.
The plot of land on which the new terminal is located covers about 200,000 square metres, while the original plan was for just 50,000 square metres. The current terminal’s size is equal to 25 standard football fields. The government has said that the terminal’s maximum passenger capacity is 400,000 per day.
The final cost of the construction of the new terminal is 3.8 billion patacas, government officials have said.
Construction of the terminal started in 2005 and was originally scheduled to be completed in 2007. The budget for the project back in 2005 was 580 million patacas. The government has repeatedly adjusted the plans since it was designed over a decade ago.
The terminal now has a total of 16 berths for ferries with a carrying capacity of 400 passengers and three berths for vessels with a carrying capacity of 1,200 passengers, as well as a helipad. There were just eight berths in the original design.
