Dragon boat museum could be built in Coloane

The Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) has revealed its plans to build a Dragon Boat Museum in the Lai Chi Vun area, close to Coloane village, a district that previously held traditional shipyards. According to the bureau’s head, Helena de Senna Fernandes, local residents will be involved in the planning process. She said this week that MGTO has been considering the idea for the past ten years, but temporarily put the plan aside. Now, according to Ms. Senna Fernandes, is the ideal time to relaunch it with new features, including workshops with Coloane residents.
MGTO will debate the plan with the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau and consult the local population before announcing any new details.
It’s not the first time that proposals to revamp Lai Chi Vun, an area of about 50,000 square meters, have surfaced. In 2012, during a meeting attended by the former Secretary for Transport and Public Works Lau Si Io, it was proposed that the city’s boat-building industry be resurrected in the form of a cultural tourism product.  As part of that plan, the defunct shipyards in Coloane were to be revived with a ship-building museum showcasing boat-building tools and machinery as exhibits, as well as having on-site workshops, in order to preserve the area, culture and industry that once flourished in Macau.