New Macau urges CCAC to investigate land grant

Sulu Sou speaks to the press after handing the complaint to the CCAC

The New Macau Association (ANM) submitted a letter to the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) yesterday, urging the bureau to investigate the unfinished project at 15 and 17 Rua dos Pescadores.

The pro-democracy group is criticizing a dispatch of the Secretariat for Transport and Public Works for approving the resumption of the construction. They raised several concerns including the amendment of the land-granting agreement and the calculation of premiums.

ANM believes that corruption was involved in the original grant process and that the present amendment has failed to comply with the original planning approvals.

Speaking to the press, Sulu Sou stressed that the premium of the plot is waived, with the government explaining that a payment was already made in 1996, and the total floor area has diminished compared to that which was initially granted in 1996.

“I think ANM and the public cannot accept these explanations because the price has increased a lot during these 18 years, so we urge the CCAC to check this point,” Sou said.

The group recalled that the contractor had even promised to construct basic community facilities nearby.

Another concern that the association wanted to pursue was the expired and undeveloped nature of the plot and the avoidance of the Law of Urban Planning.

The statement pointed out that the plot has experienced numerous amendments regarding the granting agreement, with the term of usage specified during each amendment. However, the contractor has reportedly failed to perform its duties in each instance.

“The company did not fulfill its promise on the document to develop this land. According to the land law, it is a reason for government to take the land back,” Sou said.

ANM questions whether the administration has given up its power to reclaim land plots whose contractor has repeatedly failed to comply with its duties for the term usage under the Land Law.

Although Sou added that ANM is yet to conclude that the matter is a consequence of actions by the former Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Ao Man Long, he expressed the belief that the trial has raised public criticism of the government’s mismanagement.

“According to the urban planning law, it has a mechanism to have public consultation about the developing project and should also take to the urban planning committee to discuss, but this project skipped this mechanism and the procedure,” Sou argued.

“We think the CCAC has the responsibility to investigate more of the details of what happened during these 18 years. I think the public is also concerned about the land problem in Macau. This project is also related to the Ao Man Long case and it raises public concern,” he added.

“ANM believes that, however, five years after the amendment of the Land Law, and over two years after the release of the CCAC report, the present administration still has [made] no progress in reforming the land management system,” the association said in a statement.

“In the long run, the shadow cast is still long over the land of the MSAR,” the association concluded.