IAM to make Sai Van Lake project more transparent

The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) has promised to be more transparent about the “transformation plan” for Sai Van Lake in the future, according to Sulu Sou, lawmaker and member of New Macau Association (ANM).

On Friday, ANM representatives met with IAM President José Maria da Fonseca Tavares to discuss the controversial wooden promenade project at Sai Van Lake.

During this first meeting, the IAM presented ANM representatives with documents related to the Sai Van Lake wooden promenade, which has been shelved since the end of May amid public controversy.

“The IAM is willing to promise that all PowerPoint documents, which they presented during the community advisory council meetings, will be publicized on the IAM website,” said Sou. “It is one step towards transparency.”

“The IAM said that a public consultation is ensured in case the IAM relaunches the Sai Van Lake night market project,” Sou revealed. “However, I can’t see the differences between the [Sai Van Lake wooden promenade] project and the night market.”

In Sou’s opinion, both projects pose great damage to Sai Van’s environment.

New Macau expressed to the IAM that such projects must go through public consultation, “otherwise the problem will never be solved.”

Citing Tavares, Sou said that “the IAM is the department in Macau that listens to public opinion the most.”

Sou suggested that the meetings of the advisory council of the IAM should be publicized including sub-divisions under the council.

Tavares reportedly claimed that the IAM is a newly established department, and that the bureau will strive for improved transparency.

Previously, the IAM had planned to build a five-meter wide inner lake trail along the coast of Sai Van Lake, on the Avenida da República, connecting this trail with the existing lower walkway of Sai Van Lake to form a lower lake trail.

Previously, in 2011 and 2012, the IAM’s predecessor, the former Civil and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM), held two public consultations on the Sai Van Lake Integrated Tourism project, proposing to create a night market on the lower floors of Sai Van Lake Plaza. However, the proposal was strongly opposed by the local community.

Later, in 2013, after the IACM announced the consultation results, the plan was immediately scrapped.

According to Sou, the IAM claimed that there was no consideration for any tourism purpose in regard to the Sai Van Lake “night market,” and that the Sai Van Lake Promenade project is “purely a consideration of municipal affairs.”

The IAM has made no promises to conduct public consultations on future projects similar to the Sai Van Lak Promenade. Nevertheless, similar projects will still be discussed internally within the IAM advisory committee and community meetings.