Court maintains Gov’t reclamation of failed marine theme park project land plot

The Court of Second Instance (TSI) has sustained a Chief Executive decision to declare the land concession granted to Chong Va – Entretenimento, Limitada – for a 134,891 square meters land plot in Taipa as expired, opening the way for the area to be reverted to the public domain.

At one point, the company held plans to develop a marine theme park named ‘Oceanis Park’ in the area near the Regency Art Hotel; however, in December 2018 its land concession was declared expired, as the 25-year period allowed for development defined in the current Land Law reached its end.

Plans for the land plot along Estrada Almirante Marques Esparteiro also included the construction of a series of leisure and entertainment facilities such as aquariums – including crocodiles, dolphins, and turtles among others – a bird sanctuary, mini-golf, botanical garden, water slides, swimming pool, etc.

The land lease is valid for a period of 25 years, until March 11, 2022, but the area has been idle since the concession was awarded in 1997.

Chong Va – Entretenimento, Limitada – with former legislator Fong Chi Keong contributing as a shareholder and Executive Director – appealed the decision, complaining that he has paid about MOP 800,000 in rent to the government every year, and that it has submitted several construction plans to authorities which received no response.

The TSI stated that, according to the concession contract, the land would be used for the construction of Oceanis Park within a global period of 36 months, counting from the date of publication of the order, that is until March 11, 2000, later extended by one year.

The court claimed that until 2003 the concessionaire submitted to the Office of the Secretary for Transport and Public Works new conceptual plans for land use, and proposed to change the purpose of the concession for trade and housing as well as a significant increase in the area of the land granted for about 550,000 square meters.

The Land Management Department listened to the opinions of the Port Authority, the Department of Urban Planning, and the Department of Infrastructure on the proposal and reached the conclusion that there were no conditions for this project to start, and that the Department Management Committee never completed the analysis of the application.

In any case, the court agreed with the Public Prosecution Office’s argument that the request for a change in land use was only submitted after the deadline for the development of the project had already been exceeded, and backed the CE decision to declare the expiration of the land concession on December 2018.

‘The concessionaire submitted, only after the deadline, a request to change the purpose of the concession for commerce and housing established in the new strategies of Macau in terms of economy, and for reasons of changing circumstances related to the exploration of a theme park. This not only violated the initial intention to build a theme park on the land granted, but also demonstrated that it had no desire to take advantage of the land, in accordance with the contractual provisions, that is, to build a theme park’, the court argued.

In 2017, authorities indicated that the area could be used for future public housing and government installations.