PH buyers dominate consultation opinions on urban renewal regime

The public consultation on the region’s urban renewal law concerning temporary and exchange houses received many opinions from former buyers of the stranded Pearl Horizon real estate development project.

Last week, the government held a press conference to release the results of the public consultation.

As reported by Lam Chi Long, deputy commissioner of the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) and head of the Administration Appeal Bureau of CCAC, the government received more than 7,000 opinions submitted by Pearl Horizon project’s former buyers and personnel.

The opinions of the group were said to be “constructed from their [buyers’] beneficial point of view.”

Previously, the MSAR government reclaimed the land plot of the Pearl Horizon project, announcing afterwards that it would build public houses on top of the plot. The government further proposed that Pearl Horizon buyers would be allowed to purchase public housing units. However, the final plan regarding the procedures to purchase these units has yet to be announced.

According to Lam, some of the opinions suggested that Pearl Horizon buyers should be eligible to purchase an equal number of properties from the government’s public housing project.

Other opinions suggested that when Pearl Horizon buyers purchase a unit, they should be exempt from stamp taxes for purchasing their non-first property because they had already purchased a house from the Pearl Horizon project. In the past, Macau did not charge stamp taxes on first-purchased properties.

During the public consultation, Pearl Horizon buyers once again displayed their strong stance against the government’s proposal for solving the Pearl Horizon problem. However, there were also residents who opposed the government’s plan for Pearl Horizon buyers.

Some of the opinions called on the government to only allow Pearl Horizon buyers to buy one property from the public housing project, others suggested that Pearl Horizon buyers should pay stamp taxes, even if they already own other properties.

As Lam stressed, Pearl Horizon buyers’ opinions dominated the opinions overall.  However, the CCAC deputy commissioner highlighted that the government will not draft a law simply based on the majority’s opinions, and the government will balance public interests. 

During the 30-day public consultation period, the government received a total of 11,642 opinions. Eighty-three percent supported the temporary and exchange housing regime, whereas seven percent were against the bill. The remaining 10 percent of opinions were neutral.