The Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho said today some parts of the law on land grants could not catch up with the rapid development of the society -- and the Government has been working closely with the Legislative Assembly to revise this law over the last two years. Meeting with the foreign media today, the Chief Executive was asked why some developers did not develop the property soon after the land grant. Mr Ho said the existing law was an extension of the colonial era and based on that, the allowed development period was relatively short when compared with other countries and that was not realistic. He said if the allowed development period was not long enough, developers could not make any development especially when the economy was in recession. Hence, the allowed development period should be determined reasonably. According to the Joint Declaration of the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Portugal on the Question of Macau, the Portuguese Macao Government had a limit in term of granting land. Half of the premium from the granted land was reserved as a land fund for the future Macao Special Administrative Region, said the Chief Executive. He said the Portuguese Macao Government got financial support by granting a lot of land. Although the developers knew it was not a right time to invest, they still paid premium for the land. Macao was not rich in land resources, Mr Ho said, and if the Government withdrew the undeveloped land, it would provoke much litigation and would affect investors’ confidence in doing business in Macao. He said he hoped that after the increase of land resources, the related problems would be solved.
