Nearly 80% of respondents from a recent survey supported extending Taipa’s major footbridge to the neighborhood of the Lakeside Economic Housing Estate.
The survey was conducted by the Choi In Tong Sam Association and the Islands Office of the Macao Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM). The former is closely connected to the FAOM.
Some 842 valid responses were received in the survey.
Currently, the major footbridge in Taipa connects the Stadium Station of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) to the roundabout near Pou Long Garden residential estate. It provides a walking option for people moving within the main community of Taipa.
The survey runners made five suggestions to the government in order to refine the neighborhoods in Taipa, namely ramp up civil education on maintaining cleanness of the facility, increase the number of trash cans along the footbridge, clarify the category of land in Taipa, eradicate obstructions in the neighborhood of the Lakeside Estate and speed up the urbanization of the north of Taipa.
They explained that the population in Central Taipa, according to the 2021 Census, has surpassed 75,000. Although many modern buildings have been developed in the northern part of Taipa, the neighborhood still remained dodgy due to tangled ownership of land in the district.
The scenario, according to the survey runners, has brought regular traffic chaos and floods across Taipa.
On the urbanization of Taipa North, the survey runners pointed out that it is needed in order to facilitate the extension of the footbridge, as the imagined bridge will pass over certain unused land. They suggested the government to move forward with the urbanization promptly.
Respondents were also concerned with the price, the duration, the design, the dirt-resistance and durability of the material used of the extension, as well as the traffic detour during the construction work.
There have been a handful of severe car crash incidents since the opening of the footbridge. AL
