The city’s Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) has indicated that it has yet to conduct land swaps for six plots of land parcels the government has acquired from land grantees for public projects as well as private projects, including plots granted to Wynn Macau and MGM China on the Macau Peninsula and Galaxy Macau in Cotai. The MSAR Government has a total of 12 land swap cases pending since before the handover in 1999, the Bureau said in a statement published on Wednesday. Of these 12 cases, the government has completed land swaps with private land owners for only 6 parcels so far, which involves the government having swapped land for developing a Mong-ha social housing complex project (‘Mong Sin’ Building), Seac Pai Van public housing project, and two road projects in the Patane and Fai Chi Kei district on the Macau Peninsula. The government, however, has yet to swap land for the plots granted to Wynn Macau and MGM China on the Macau Peninsula as well as Galaxy Macau on Cotai, as the plots located in ZAPE and in Cotai that had originally been granted to third-party private landwners later underwent a change in land usage purpose for the development of the resort-casino business, the Bureau explained. The government is also to swap land with private landowners pertaining to the building of the Golden Lotus Square on Macau Peninsula and its plan to convert the Iec Long Firecracker Factory in Taipa into a theme park, according to the statement. Upon Business Daily’s enquiry, the Bureau stressed that it “had no information” about whether any land parcels from the five new urban reclaimed zones are to be reserved as sources for land swaps for the private landowners. The government is still consulting the public until August 8 on the urban planning for the five newly reclaimed areas throughout Macau, which occupy 350 hectares. ‘The government reiterates that it will be handling land swaps cautiously,’ the Wednesday statement read, ‘…It will strictly follow the new Land Law and related regulations.’
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