Urban Planning Committee against public housing lot in Taipa

Raimundo do Rosário

The government’s project to use a land plot in Taipa to build public housing was opposed by several members of the Urban Planning Committee.
The committee, which has a consultative role, gathered yesterday to discuss proposals related to fifteen land plots and buildings.
One topic debated was the use of a land plot in Taipa, located at the crossroads between Rua do Desporto and Rua do Colégio next to Macau Olympic Aquatic Center, as proposed by the Housing Bureau.
Several members of the committee expressed their disagreement with the project, stating that the location is assigned to sports facilities.
Among them was committee member Wu Chou Kit. “The people need public housing, I acknowledge that. But there are other facilities that people also need,” he said.
“To go ahead with this [project] might create a loophole for the future planning.”
Another highlight had to do with a long-lasting standoff regarding a privately-owned plot of land located across the Social Affairs Bureau headquarters. A technical report from the Cultural Affairs Bureau rejects the landowner’s idea of building a hotel, stating that the land is located within a heritage protection area in which no construction can take place.
According to IC, the land should be made available to the public as a plaza.
On this topic, Wu Chou Kit reaffirmed the need for the committee to establish a construction height limit for the land, enabling the calculation of a compensation that should be paid to the landowner.
“The owner can’t use the land and he is suffering a loss because of that. But we can’t set compensation since we don’t know what would be the maximum ceiling for that [land],” he said, urging committee members to reach a solution.

rosário: opinions taken into account

On the sidelines of the meeting, Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário was questioned by the media about several committee members’ unfavorable opinions regarding the public housing in Taipa. “We will always take note of the opinions of the committee members in these meetings. The services will analyze all these opinions,” he said.