A new excavation site has been found to supply sand for Macau’s landfill Zone A new town, according to a statement issued by the Infrastructure Development Office (GDI) yesterday. The site is said to be located on the south side of the construction site of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. The statement follows media reports that reclamation work has been stopped in Zone A due to a shortage of sand. The Chief Executive commented on Monday that the SAR Government has been in close contact with Guangdong authorities with regard to resolving the sand supply issue. GDI’s statement also indicates that the SAR Government has gained full support from its counterpart in the neighbouring province. The Office says that the sand supply was temporarily restored until March 20, when Guangdong authorities helped and the contractor for Zone A has moved around 5 million square metres. The statement also claimed that the proportion of the landfill was increased from 50 per cent to 75 per cent. GDI says that the new sand supply site brings more technical difficulties. However, the government is taking the initiative to solve the problem. GDI says it has asked the project contractors to work in accordance with the new plan, and to ensure that a certain number of barges are made available for the new source of sand supply although there are technical difficulties. A shortage of sand supply occurred at the end of February last year which caused the project to fail in meeting its deadline at the end of 2015. GDI says the SAR Government will continue to communicate with the Guangdong Government and hopefully solve the issue in a couple of months and finish reclamation work of Zone A as soon as possible. B.L.
—