Legislative Assembly | HKZMB connections and traffic issues take over AL session

Raimundo do Rosário (center)

The commencement into operation of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HKZMB) in late October last year, which added traffic congestion pressure to an area already suffering from the consequences of being the largest border checkpoint to mainland China, was the main topic that gathered lawmakers’ attention during yesterday’s session at the Legislative Assembly (AL). The plenary meeting had been scheduled to address enquiries from the lawmakers to the government and hear its replies.

From the start, lawmakers Angela Leong and Chan Hong launched the topic of the HKMZB adding to traffic congestion – in particular the trouble at the roundabout of the Pérola Oriental – wanting to know how and when the government plans to address this and other problems related to traffic.

The Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, led the government’s reply, noting the recent enforcement of several measures in the place, which included more road lanes to and from the Border Gate as well as easing the access of traffic coming from the bridge port and heading to Taipa with the addition of an exclusive corridor for such direction.

A representative of the Transport Bureau noted several other measures, such as the inclusion of an “emergency circulation lane” in the area of Avenida Marginal do Hipódromo and a restriction imposed on tourism buses from December 8, restricting access during several hours of the day and on weekends. The representative said that the measures form the basis of a strategy that is “already showing positive results.”

Regarding the planned connection between Zone A of the new landfills and the peninsula, the Secretary said, “besides the existing connection, we are planning three others, [one of which is] a connection to Rua dos Pescadores, which is now in conception phase.”

Another connection “would link the area in the surroundings of the Outer Harbor to Zone A,” but first a feasibility study will be required “as we need to take into account several factors such as the maritime traffic in the Outer Harbor and the existing flyover structures.”

The third connection “would link Zone A to Zone B around the [Macau] Science Centre, which is in design phase and I can say that we already decided that would be through an underwater tunnel since we are very close to Ponte da Amizade.”

“We expect to present a plan for [the Rua dos Pescadores connection] at the end of this year,” said the Secretary, and “we foresee the presentation of the final plan for [Zone A to Zone B] construction in 2020.”

The government also took the opportunity to discard once more the idea of using the lower deck of the Sai Van Bridge as a corridor for motorcycles, replying to a suggestion from lawmaker Chan Hong followed by clarifications called for by Pereira Coutinho.

“The lower deck of the Sai Van Bridge will be used for the LRT [Light Rail Transit],” said the Secretary, noting, “this deck is not for regular access; its purpose is for emergency use. It does not have the conditions to be used for regular vehicle circulation.”

Besides, “with the construction that is currently undergoing at Barra for the Transport Hub, this deck access would be suppressed,” the representative of Transport Bureau added, noting that the bridge is already served by an motorcycle exclusive corridor that has proved effective. Using that as an example, the government plans to adopt the same solution for the fourth bridge between the Peninsula and Taipa.

The lawmakers insisted on a concrete timeline and budget, noting that there is also urgency for such links to be built.

“Yes, there is urgency,” acknowledged Rosário. “There is a great traffic jam. We would like to expedite all this – including the fourth bridge – that we will launch the public tender for next month. […] At that time we will know the timeline and an approximate budget. Only after the tender is launched we can know more. I think it should be around MOP1 billion, but soon we will know for sure.”

Advancing on time, the government noted that the public tender conditions have already established a maximum construction time of 1,440 working days. According to the Secretary, “an overrun of about 20 percent in terms of budget and 10 to 20 percent in terms of time is considered normal for this kind of project.”

rosário clarifies peninsula line of lrt

ON THE sidelines of Legislative Assembly session, the Secretary for Transport and Public works clarified that the so-called “Eastern Line” of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) would connect the Pac On Ferry Terminal in Taipa to Zone A of the landfills and then through the shoreline to the Border Gate. He said it would, for the time being, be the only route considered after the conclusion of the Taipa line and the connection of the route to the Barra Transport Hub. The Secretary also hinted that the connection would be made through an underwater tunnel as there is no plan for it to be included in the fourth link bridge between Macau and Taipa.