Representatives of a group of Taipa residents who are opposed to a government-approved project to convert a small park in Estrada Almirante Marques Esparteiro near the Regency Hotel Macau into a petrol station, warned Wednesday they wouldn’t exclude “radical action” if the government does not scrap the plan.
Two representatives of the residents – Rachel Tsang and Celeste M. da Rosa – made the remarks during an outdoor press conference near to the park.
About 40 residents as well as lawmakers Jose Pereira Coutinho and Leong Veng Chai and political activists Jason Chou Teng Hei and Sulu Sou Ka Hou attended the press conference.
Tsang and Celeste said the reasons the government gave to approve the project was “unreasonable”. They said the government had not given enough data to support the need for a new petrol station since there are already five in the Taipa. The duo also said the government had not responded to Taipa residents’ more urgent needs such as a new wet market and more public facilities.
Tsang said the residents had collected about 1,000 signatures against the project.
“About 1,000 residents from Ocean Gardens also oppose the construction of the station…I think there are several thousand residents against the station. If the government insists on the construction we won’t exclude the possibility of resorting to radical action,” Tsang said.
Tsang also said, “If there is any radical action it will be because the government pushed us.”
Tsang did not say what kind of radical action the residents are ready to take. Several dozen Taipa residents held a sit-in in the park earlier this month.
Responding to the residents’ stance, officials of the Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) including its Urban Planning Department chief Lao Iong had a meeting with them last week. Lao told reporters after the meeting that the park was the ideal location for a petrol station, considering the project’s safety requirements.
Lao also said the government had no plans to stop the construction of the petrol station, adding that otherwise it would be breaching its contract with the project owner.(macaunews/macaupost)
