Gov’t urged to enhance road quality

Macau’s road design and paving standards fail to meet a surging number of vehicles arising from the city’s accelerating development, and it is imperative that the government updates roads to create a road system that services the needs of the people, lawmaker Ella Lei noted.
Drivers encountering rugged roads is quite commonplace in Macau — some road sections have large potholes or lumpy surfaces, even thought many were recently repaved.
In a written query submitted yesterday to the government, Lei attributed this to the longstanding mediocre quality of road construction projects, the standards of which are not sufficiently rigid to withstand the current flow of traffic.
“This [problem] may pose a serious hazard to the public,” she warned.
Earlier in March, Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo Arrais do Rosário warned the general public that Macau will be transformed into a “huge construction site,” and advised locals to accordingly prepare themselves.
With do Rosário’s caution and the forthcoming summer holiday as a habitual peak season for roadway excavation, it is anticipated that the city’s traffic situation may stay “not optimistic,” according to Lei.
The Macau government acknowledged that the quality of road projects has room for improvement. Authorities have been engaging in conversations with related construction companies to impel them to raise the construction standards.
In early May, the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) mounted a field trip into mainland China to study the feasibility of applying the nation’s most advanced asphalt-paving technology in Macau, in the hope of enhancing the durability of Macau roadways.
Secretary for Administration and Justice Cheong Weng Chon, noted in March that the government is planning to establish administrative regulations to ensure future construction projects will be carried out to a more satisfactory standard.
Lei requested a reply from the government to indicate what metrics will be put into the administrative regulations and when will they put into force.
She also urged the government to be more forward-thinking and better prepared when it comes to paving projects in a bid to avoid unnecessary excavation and ensuring congestion problems.