The plot thickens

By
Newsdesk

The urban planning law, Macau’s first legal framework on the issue, has been in effect for a year without hitting any major potholes, except for the recent jolt of the cancellation of a secretariat.
Some observers and insiders take this as a good sign that the new law is successfully restricting the discretion of the administration; some blame this on the failure of the authorities to come to grips with details in support of the law; and some say this is due to the reluctance of developers to put forward major projects amid the transitional period of the government.
But there is a consensus: the tug of war among competing interests will only escalate as time progresses.
“Not much has happened since the implementation of the law, which proves to a certain degree it works well,” said legislator Au Kam San. “For example, we don’t see any blatant decisions by the government of exercising its discretionary right to relax the height cap of a project from 10 metres to 50 metres as in the past.”
The urban planning law was approved by the Legislative Assembly in the summer of 2013, and came into force on March 1, 2014, together with the cultural heritage law and amendments to the land law. The three legal frameworks were billed as steps forward for the government to manage its land resources and development in a more open and transparent manner, bidding farewell to past practices lambasted for breeding collusion.
The highlight of the law is the establishment of the urban planning committee – an advisory body comprising officials, experts and civic leaders – to advise the government on strategies for the urban development of Macau and ‘urban conditional plans’. As enshrined in the law, developers are obliged to apply to the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau for an urban conditional plan that determines construction area, height cap and plot ratio before proceeding with their projects.
The full story can be read in this month’s issue of Macau Business magazine, available at newsstands and online at www.magzter.com.