Macau Matters | Hengqin campus failed Macau

Richard Whitfield

It is now a few years since Macau people spent many billions of patacas to build the Hengqin campus of the University of Macau. As I have only recently had occasion to visit the development a few times, it seems appropriate to use this column to report on my initial impressions of how well our money was spent.
The University of Macau Hengqin Campus project was started in 2009-10 and at the time there were many questions, but very little information, about the project. I looked into the design and construction of the campus a few times and found very little, and at the time several friends and acquaintances in the construction industry also commented to me that the project seemed to be a big secret. Even now, there does not seem to be a great deal of information available online about the complex.
The first time I visited the Hengqin campus I got a speeding ticket when travelling through the tunnel to reach it. Not an auspicious start, and I am totally baffled as to why tunnels in Macau have lower speed limits than the rest of the road network.
Arriving at the campus the lack of street parking, and the high proportion of streets blocked off from public traffic is quite noticeable. When I eventually found the public day parking area, the entrance was very confusing. Also, about 1/3 of the cars it held had removal notices on them, but some of them had clearly not been driven for several months. Long term car storage seems to be a common, and unacceptable, problem in many of Macau’s public car parks. My guess is that bribes paid to let cars be stored long term in public is a lucrative business.
I chose the nearest exit to leave the carpark but it opened into the middle of a flower bed, which seemed a strange landscaping design choice. In general the shabby state of the landscaping throughout the campus created a very poor first impression. Many of the paved footpaths had frequent broken pavers and grass growing out between them indicating bad sub-surface preparation. Moreover, in several places edgings were broken and soil had already eroded onto footpaths. I understand that the campus is built on reclaimed land, but the soil quality over the whole area looked to be very poor – a lot of exposed sand and rubble.
Generally, I was also very disappointed with the building designs. They seemed very 1970s and have not been designed to suit the local climate or with any “green” or “sustainable” features. For example, some of the residential buildings use simple domestic split-system air conditioners which are very inefficient when used in large buildings (you never see them used in hotels, for example). Previously, I have briefly noted that I felt that the campus totally wasted the great opportunity it had to create a green, sustainable development that showcased leading edge technologies.
I also visited a residential college and was very surprised to see guards and turnstiles at the entrance so that access was very restricted. This seems a very strange policy in a place as safe as Macau and where you want students to mingle and engage with each other and build friendships and support networks. Related to this, the campus was generally empty and sterile with little evidence of student social activity.
Overall, I was not happy with the complex and I do not give it a passing grade. Macau people spent a lot of money on this campus, and they deserved to get something better.