Proposal to build hazardous materials storage raises questions

The proposal from the government to build a new hazardous materials storage in the Concordia Industrial Park area in Coloane raised several questions from the Urban Planning Committee (CPU), in a meeting held yesterday afternoon at the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT).

Presented by the Fire Services Bureau (CB) Commissioner, Leong Iok Sam, at the CPU’s fifth meeting this year, the proposal nominates two land plots at the Industrial Park as suitable for storing hazardous materials. As Leong mentioned, the land plots will serve only as temporary locations for storage “until we can find a more suitable and definitive land plot, that should possibly be in a landfill.” This final solution might take a few years to be achieved, according to Leong, who noted, “For now we need to solve this problem temporarily.”

Despite achieving a consensus from the committee, the solution also raised several questions, with members wanting to know more about the project, especially regarding safety concerns and the kinds of products that would be stored in the facility.

In response, Leong replied that most of the substances to be stored in this new facility are not “very dangerous per se, but are considered hazardous in terms of storage and handling.” He gave the example of “oxygen and other substances,” which are currently being stored in several locations across the region in order to avoid “concentration” of such substances in one place.

However, as previously mentioned, the purpose of the new facility is precisely to “centralize” those materials in order to “avoid problems,” Leong said. This apparent contradiction is resolved by the fact that the hazardous materials will be stored “far from the residential areas.”

Leong also noted that the project is being assessed and will include all safety measures, especially for fire risk. The project will be managed by a professional team in loco, which will manage both the storage of the different materials as well as their transportation.

Committee member Chan Tak Seng, director of the Macau Institution of People’s Alliance and one of the most active members of the CPU, questioned the need to include such a plan on the Urban Master Plan. He asked, “For now there are no houses in that area, but in five or 10 years who can tell?” The same member also inquired whether, with the construction of this new facility in Coloane, the government would eliminate the current storage locations for these kinds of materials. Leong replied saying, “Currently we have one storage site [for hazardous materials] located at Ilha Verde district and another one at Ka Ho, at the deep-
water maritime port. Ideally, we want to add this new facility to the existing ones, but if needed, maybe we can think about relocating the materials at Ilha Verde to this new one [and dismantle the old facility].”

There is not yet a defined date for the start of the construction of the facility, but the CB Commissioner said that he hopes that this can happen as soon as possible.

With the green light given by the committee for the Urban Condition Plan (PCU), the process should now move forward.
The new storage facilities should be located in two land plots at the Concordia Industrial Park, next to Coloane’s Water Treatment Plant.
Another topic that raised concerns from the committee members was plans for the location of the new Health Care Centers in Zone A of the new landfills. The projects are to occupy the plots A9 and C8 of that new area, but some members expressed concerns that the government was not disclosing enough information on the projects.

The first to raise this was member Manuel Iok Pui Ferreira. “There is very little information; there are no prospective figures on the number of users and others. We know that Zone A will have a lot of people,” he said, giving the example of the Ocean Gardens Health Care Center which is now saturated, due to being “undersized.”

In Ferreira’s opinion, backed by members Chan Tak Seng and architect Ben Leong, it is imperative that the Health Bureau (SSM) explain exactly what the project entails.

As in previous CPU meetings, Leong was critical, saying, “We are always discussing things in isolation. It would be good for the next meeting if we could have a general blueprint about all the facilities and ideas from the government, so we can have a concrete idea of all the necessary planning.”

This request was approved by the temporary meeting chairperson, Leong Keng Seng, in the absence of the president of the committee, Li Canfeng, who said that he would invite the SSM to present the project in detail.

DSSOPT staff added that, according to legal standards, there should be one Health Care Center per 50,000 people, noting that since it is expected that the area will have 96,000 residents, the government is planning to build two units.

As for Chan, he noted mistakes made in the planning of Seac Pai Van, recalling that the government said Zone A would primarily have public housing, a type of housing in which priority is given to the elderly, people with disabilities and those who are in need of health services most.