Lau says 45-day consultation on light metro ‘enough’

Lau says 45-day consultation on light metro ‘enough’

Macau Post Daily 18 July 2007
Suki Leong

Secretary for Transport and Public Works Lau Si Io said yesterday he believed that the government’s 45-day public consultation on its light metro project was “enough” because the government had already gathered a large amount of public views on the plan.

Mr. Lau made the remark on the margins of an interdepartmental working group meeting on the renewal of the city’s old quarters. The policy secretary’s remark came after the New Macau Association (NMA) called for a three-month consultation period during a press conference at its office on Sunday.

Mr. Lau also said that he did not expect all people to agree with the project but was keen that most people would back it. He also said he expected the project to break ground in the middle of next year. The government announced last Friday, when the 45-day consultation period formally began, that the first phase of the project would cost 4.2 billion patacas at last year’s prices. The first phase is planned to be completed in 2011.

Mr. Lau also said that the government had already held 20 consultation meetings about the project. He also said that any association could request the government to attend a consultation meeting during the 45-day period.

The secretary admitted that construction of the overhead track of the light metro would involve the closure of some streets below. He also said that contrary to some public views expressed recently it was technically not feasible to build a metro station in the Ilha Verde district and near the Barrier Gate at the same time since this would paralyze traffic in the northern district.

Meanwhile, an engineer working in the private sector has told The Macau Post Daily that the elevated light metro (ELM) proposed by the government is “quite different” from Hong Kong light rail transit (LRT) and Las Vegas’ monorail.