Lawmaker calls for easement clarification

Further clarifications on easements in many areas across the city is required to ensure public safety and liability, lawmaker Nick Lei has said in his latest written inquiry.

Easements are areas built within or on the peripherals of private property, such as the covered sidewalks of some residential or business properties. Some of these areas in the city have been transferred to the government, so easement issues were solved.

Others which have not been transferred either do not fit public safety standards or were simply not transferred.

The lawmaker said the issue is less significant if these areas are not accessible to the public.

Those that are accessible can be problematic because if there are violations, public entities will be unable to enforce laws on perpetrators, the lawmaker added. Lei worries these issues risk public safety.

He explained the problem by using the example of the dead-end behind the Macau Industrial Centre in Areia Preta, where light and heavy vehicles park illegally. Police cannot issue tickets to the vehicles because the easement has not been transferred to the government,.

In addition, although the public roads in Ocean Garden in Taipa have been transferred to the government, the greening areas were not. Maintenance costs for the areas were paid by the owners of the residential estate, according to the lawmaker. The owners believe it is unfair that they must use their own money to support public installations.

The lawmaker also noted that the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) conducts regular cleaning on certain non-transferred private areas, on the condition that they allow pedestrians to use them. He finds this unreasonable as the public is partially using and the government partially managing these areas, but the easement has not been transferred to the government.