LRT budget ‘derailed’ again

The budget of the Macau Light Rail Transit (LRT) system has grown since the start of the building process. The latest amount for the costs of system operations and rolling stock is said to be MOP5.42 billion, as stated by the Chief Executive (CE) in the Official Gazette.

The new adjustment of the costs, which the CE recently green-lighted, is an additional increment on top of those which have grown by almost MOP1 billion, since it was initially budgeted over six years ago.

The value of the contract between the MSAR government and the Japanese contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, has been adjusted upward since then on a regular basis. From 2016 to 2017 the contract went from MOP5.39 billion to MOP5.42 billion.

According to the justification presented in the Official Gazette, the need for the new increment is “due to the adjustment of some contractual works that in turn is necessary to increase the overall amount of the contract as well as to [revise] the scheduling.”

It is expected that the LRT budget will continue to increase with time as there is still a large share to be paid in 2019 that amounts to over MOP1 billion – an amount which might also be “adjusted” before then. RM