Rear Window | Five years to upgrade Macau

Severo Portela

Macau’s first five-year plan is out and open to public debate and suggestions during the so-called consultation period. This is a superbly ambitious and comprehensive roadmap as it gives both the guidelines to upgrade MSAR to a world hub for tourism and leisure and at the same time inspires and encourages our society to engage and take a far more proactive role.
The actual draft has been prepared from the preliminary plan disclosed late last year (incorporating Central Government ideas on Macau’s role in the Pan-River Delta Region). Despite re-arranging the seven major targets plus delivering a heavy infrastructure brief of four major areas (strategies, people’s life, development and good governance) CE advisor Lei Ngan Leng revealed the plan to be only a “semi-completed version.”
Lei Ngan Leng’s evaluation apparently proposes to underline the preparedness of the Committee for Development for Tourism and Leisure to consider and eventually integrate suggestions emanating from the community.
However, this candid invitation to contribute to a completed version, or more complete, at least, can be easily misunderstood through a pair of twisted interpretations. On one hand, the five-year plan somewhat duplicates the yearly government sectorial guidelines, minus the budget… implying, if not duplicity, clear redundancy… in terms of policy. On the second hand, the plan’s sketchy scope and its five-year span imitates a patchwork quilt.
For example, it is immaterial if the five-year plan calls unequivocally for land and urban planning.  There is no Urban Master Plan, and until MSAR has one, life goes on as a patchwork of cases perfectly legal, like the outrageous 100-meter tall Coloane Hill project. No wonder that the plan outlines a call to the government in order to reform the old quarters and also build new urban areas. Do they care that there is no urban master plan? Is it possible to go ahead and do it? Yes.
The patchwork factor is not the exclusive domain of the construction industry. The five-year plan also mentions the level environmental protection as an important feature of a city with modern living conditions. In 2015, according to Statistics Bureau, demographics (population density) increased by more than 20 thousand per Km2, domestic and commercial waste grew by 4.6% and 1.3%. The incineration plant burned another 11% of solid waste. Cars and other vehicles kept piling up… but believe it or not, in terms of air quality, the roadside station of Rua do Campo registered an additional 84 days of “GOOD” air quality compared with the previous year, up to an amazing 221 good-air quality days.
However, the Environmental Protection Bureau took the opportunity presented by the Earth Day to disclose an obligatory survey about environmental awareness and environmental satisfaction.
E pur si muove! The Environmental Bureau report acknowledges that air quality increased slightly, and announced they will prepare a comprehensive regulation to address the air quality.
Finally, as an example of the patchwork way of doing things, we should consider odd that Secretary Chan believes the legislation on the extradition treaty with the Hong Kong SAR will be applied retroactively, together with other surgical interventions. When the time comes to sow the loose pieces of law and regulation unto a nice patchwork, then it will be possible to have a new glimpse of the bulk of the legislation.
One final note dedicated to a little something that could change the landscape. The Sports Bureau and the Tourism Department are about to introduce recreational water vehicles on the Nam Van Lakes: Pedal Boats.