The Macau SAR will start planning public auctions of land plots for private residential buildings that could offer 7,000 to 10,000 units, the 2022 policy address document reveals.
‘Based on the Master Plan and the provisions defined in the Land Law, the Macau SAR government will start planning land for private buildings, depending on the current situation of the areas and the concrete needs for social development […] Therefore, over the next five years, the selection of suitable land for carrying out the respective public tenders will be carried out,’ the document adds.
Following the handover in 1999, there were only three land parcels awarded to the private sector through auction, one in 2004 and two plots in early 2008; others were directly granted to companies and organizations in the past two decades and more, including land used for integrated resort projects.
Speaking in a question and answer session after his policy address at the Legislative Assembly, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng stated the government will auction off available land at the end of this year or early next year, and admitted this would be a way to generate more government revenue.
As of August of this year, public finance revenue fell by 13.6 per cent year-on-year to MOP64.8 billion, as gaming revenues and respective taxes collected plunged following the pandemic outbreak.
However, Ho also emphasized that the land auctions will depend depends on market demand and could not be “mismatched” with the current residence needs and projected public housing to be developed.
“At present, there are 15,000 to 16,000 flats that many people can’t afford due to their large area and high unit prices. As a result, there are many vacant flats in the market,” he stated.
The housing units to be developed in these areas should also not be smaller than in housing estates and must meet market demand, Ho underlined.
The Macau SAR government had annulled land grants involving a total land area of 718,000 square metres by October 15 of this year in accordance with the local Land Law, a review of the administration work this year reveals.
A total of 51 plots of land were also successfully recovered by authorities, involving a total area of 484,000 square metres.
‘In order to take advantage of the recovered land, the Macau SAR Government will prepare utilization plans for the construction of public services’ buildings, warehouses, public housing, among others, in a total area estimated at about 180,000 square meters, the 2022 policy address document indicates.
As for public housing projects, the 2022 policy address indicates that the construction of the superstructure of economic housing will be carried out next year on lots B4, B9 and B10 of the reclaimed New Area Zone A, as well as the construction of economic housing on lots A1, A2, A3, A4 and A12; while to stabilize the slope on Avenida Wai Long.
A future public housing project at Avenida Wai Long will provide 6,000 housing units, with Zone A expected to include 28,000 public housing, 24,000 of which are expected to be completed in the next 4 years, including 10,000 economic housing units.
The Housing Bureau will also continue to carry out appraisal work of the applications for economic housing of 2019 and will start the assessment of the 2021 candidacies.
‘It is anticipated that the final order list can be completed in the first half of 2022, in order to start the selection and appraisal procedure of the qualification of the first 5254 applicant households,’ the document adds.
A bill for a future intermediate ‘sandwich’ housing legal regime, for residents with income, amounts superior to those allowed for social and economic public housing, will also be completed in 2022 and sent to the Legislative Assembly for consideration.
