New Pearl Horizon development will have 13 residential towers

The government plans to build 13 residential towers at the site of the failed Pearl Horizon project with as many as 4,500 housing units, according to information disclosed at this week at the year’s first plenary meeting by the Urban Planning Committee (CPU).
This latest plan is a reduction from the 18 residential towers and 5,220 housing units previously advanced. Committee members have commended the new proposal as it will allow more space for leisure and public areas, as well as wider streets than in the initial project.
According to the project’s urban plan, the government plans to build the 4,500 housing units and make them available for the previously disclosed “house exchange plan”, as well as for temporary housing to accommodate residents when their buildings undergo urban renewal.
The project also includes several other facilities for public use such as shops and commercial spaces, leisure areas and a public transport hub.
The government-owned company in charge of the project, Macau Urban Renewal Company Limited, presented the project at the CPU meeting, noting that the land plot will be divided into four different areas, with the first to be made available for acquisition by the buyers of “Pearl Horizon” development. Two other areas will be used to construct the apartments for the urban renewal projects and the last area will include social facilities, a bus terminal and a shopping area, explained company Chairman Peter Lam, and the architect, Johnathan Wong.
During the presentation of the project, Lam noted that solving the problem of the former Pearl Horizon buyers is one of the major tasks of the company.
The buyers were left without their pre-sale property purchases after the original Pearl Horizon developer did not complete the planned residential project within the 25-year land concession. The government subsequently confiscated the land plot and decided to build its own residential complex to be released into the market, with Pearl Horizon buyers being granted purchasing priority.
Lam said that the zone of the new project designed to accommodate the Pearl Horizon buyers would also include parking lots, public squares and other public facilities. It would not include the construction of a municipal market, as it was first aired.
“We want to make the best possible use of the land plot and maximize the available resources to solve the problem of Pearl Horizon buyers,” said Lam, as cited by Portuguese newspaper Hoje Macau.
According to Lam, it was also decided that the hub for public transport was more important for the future residents of the area than a market, adding that the mobility of the population was the priority.
Wong added that to shorten the time of construction, the new project will make full use of the foundations already built by the previous developer, accelerating the construction time as much as possible.