Municipal bureau has no plan to change identical street names

The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) has announced that it has no plans change the names of Macau streets that are identical to other streets in the city because of the risk of administrative disturbance.
A total of 34 pairs of streets and roads in Macau share the same name in either one or both of the official languages. For example, there are two streets named Avenida Dr. Sun Yat Sen in the city, which have different names in Chinese.
The one in Macau runs from Macau Fisherman’s Wharf to the roundabout at Macau Tower. The street in Taipa runs from Altira Macau to the Inn Hotel. In addition, the roundabout right in the middle of the Taipa road was named Rotunda Dr. Sun Yat Sen.
Despite the possible confusion, the IAM does not consider changing the street names in question to be a good idea because further confusion could arise.
For example, if the names of the streets were to change, the registrations of properties and businesses on those streets would need to be changed as well. Property and business registrations are under the authority of the Commercial and Movable Assets Registry.
The repetition of the street names was due to the political structure of the Portuguese administration, when Macau was separated into Macau City and Island City. Both cities had their own municipal bodies to name streets and roads. It was completely legitimate for the two different cities to have the same street or road name.
Furthermore, some streets in Macau reflect the district they are located in incorrectly. For example, Estrada da Ponte de Pac On is located near the current Taipa Campus of the City University of Macau. The famous Travessa da Paixão also does not mean the same thing in Chinese, translating to “the Love Alley.” The Portuguese name actually means the Passion of the Christ, having Christian connotations.

Categories Macau