Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário underlined yesterday that building an ecological island is the only solution to tackle Macau’s growing construction waste and the fly ash from the solid waste incinerator in Pac On.

The policy secretary also said that experts from the mainland have still not reached a final conclusion as to whether the ecological island can be built in a maritime area about one kilometre off Coloane’s Hac Sa Long Chao Kok coast.

Rosário made the remarks while speaking to reporters at the World Trade Centre Macau (WTCM) in Zape after presenting awards to winners of the government’s naming campaign for the fourth Macau-Taipa bridge.

Some eco-activists and groups are opposed to the local government’s ecological island project because of its perceived potentially adverse impact on Chinese white dolphins in the area. 

Rosário underlined yesterday that with Macau’s continuous urban development, the city’s only construction waste landfill in east Cotai is nearing saturation.

The policy secretary said that for the time being the maritime area about one kilometre south of the Long Chao Kok coast would be the only possible one for building an ecological island, asking rhetorically whether reporters could propose a waterfront area or another maritime area in Macau’s coastal waters suitable for an ecological island to be used for a construction waste and fly ash landfill.

Rosário underlined that experts from the mainland are still studying the feasibility of Macau building an ecological island south of Coloane’s Long Chao Kok coast, adding he believed that the experts will come up with effective measures to ensure the protection of the Chinese white dolphins if they conclude that an ecological island can be set up there.

The policy secretary also noted that when the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) project was planned, experts at that time also came up with measures to ensure the protection of Chinese white dolphins there. 

Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário (right) talks to reporters at the World Trade Centre Macau yesterday as Public Works Bureau (DSOP) Director Lam Wai Hou looks on. – Photo: Tony Wong