After protests by Pearl Horizon buyers left out of a government replacement housing scheme, the Office of the Secretary for Administration and Justice has responded today that property registration requirements are necessary to confirm property ownership.
On Tuesday several buyers of housing units in the failed Pearl Horizon project held a protest departing from the site of the project and finishing at the Legislative Assembly (AL).
Only buyers who registered property ownership for the pre-sale units they purchased in the project suspended in 2015 are considered eligible to apply for replacement housing, a requirement that has left out 100 buyers out of the government scheme.
‘The reason for this is that land registration is intended to publicize the legal situation of immovable property […] Only with the land registration can the identity of the buyer of the building under construction be verified, under the law,’ a note from the Secretary said.
Each property owner or couple may also only apply for one temporary exchange housing unit, regardless of the amount of pre-sale units purchased in the project.
The Office also noted that the replacement or temporary housing law recently enforced was approved following the public consultation by the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region and discussed at the AL, having considered the opinions of different sectors of society, including those of buyers of units under construction from the former Pearl Horizon project.
Public company Macau Urban Renewal Ltd. will be in charge to develop the future replacement housing on the same land plot in Areia Preta, having said on Monday that it has received a total of 1,686 applications between June 17 and July 26 from Pearl Horizon buyers looking to purchases replacement housing units, with about 507 eligible applicants having not yet submitted applications.
The company expected to finish the development plans this year but with construction still to take some years to be completed.
‘The relevant services of the Macau SAR government will be working closely with Macau Urban Renewal Ltd. to complete as soon as possible the planning, design, and construction of this housing project,’ the note read.
