Helicopter hangar to make way for Islands Hospital

The helicopter hangar at Coloane will be relocated to a site adjacent to the Taipa Ferry Terminal at an expense to the government of MOP535 million.

It was unveiled earlier by the Legislative Assembly that the hangar must be relocated to make way for the hospital. The government has designated another piece of land on the reclamation strip beside the Taipa Ferry Terminal for the hangar.

On top of the land concession, the government will pay a relocation fee to the helicopter company, Sky Shuttle, which is the user of the hangar.

A government dispatch issued in January last year announced the arrangement. The dispatch stated that the helicopter company had agreed to pay the difference in value of about MOP17 million between the two land plots.

The director of the Health Bureau, Lei Chin Ion, disclosed on the sidelines of a public event on Sunday that he had only learned about the land exchange from the news. He told local Chinese media All About Macau that he did not have the expertise to comment on that.

Furthermore, as the budget for the hospital was determined by the public works departments, he had no knowledge of the reason behind the project running over budget. AL