The Commission Against Corruption has released the “Investigation report on the construction project at Alto de Coloane”, which pointed out many doubts existing in the process of the inheritance of the title of the land parcel where the construction project was located at. One cannot rule out the possibility that some people made use of judicial proceedings and falsely claimed to be the parcel owner’s descendants and obtained the title illegally. There were obviously mistakes and even frauds made and committed in the process of the land boundary survey and the issuance of the cadastral map. The parcel with a description number 6150 was actually located near Largo do Presidente António Ramalho Eanes in the old Coloane Village instead of being at Alto de Coloane, while the actual area of the parcel was, at the most, only a few hundred square metres instead of 53,866 m2. The parcel where the Alto de Coloane project is located is a State property and the Macao SAR Government should recover the relevant land parcel following appropriate procedure and method.
In 2016, the CCAC received a few complaints claiming that there might be illegalities in the assessment and approval procedures in relation to the construction project at Alto de Coloane. After an investigation that lasted more than a year, the CCAC held many doubts about the title, location and area of the parcel where the project is located. It also found that the street alignment plan issued by the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) went against the planning terms laid down in the administrative instructions.
The doubts existing in the process of obtaining the title
The report indicates the sequence of events of the change of the title in details. The parcel in relation to the construction project at Alto de Coloane has a land description number 6150. The registered parcel owner was “Chui Lan” starting from 1903. In July 1991, residents in Coloane Vong Tam Seng and Vong Tak Heng, represented by lawyer Paulo dos Remédios, brought a suit of confirming their eligibility as the heirs to the court, claiming that Vong Tam Kuong, who also named “Choi Lan”, was their grandfather and requested to inherit the title of the parcel with a description no. 6150.
On 2nd April 1992, after hearing the testimony from the witnesses designated by Vong Tam Seng and Vong Tak Heng, the court ruled that they were the only heirs of Vong Tam Kuong (who also named “Choi Lan”). Based on the court judgment, they submitted an application to the Real Estate Registry for transferring the title of the parcel with a description no. 6150 to them. They eventually inherited the title of the parcel which was originally owned by “Chui Lan”.
The CCAC found in the investigation that in the legal proceedings of heir eligibility confirmation, there was lack of evidence for the verification of statements. Therefore, it is difficult to rule out the possibility that some people made use of judicial procedure to illegally obtain the title by falsely claiming to be the parcel owner’s descendants.
In the suit, Vong Tam Seng and Vong Tak Heng did not submit any documents to the court to prove that their grandfather Vong Tam Kuong was also named “Choi Lan”. The witnesses stated in the hearing that they did not know their grandfather. Whether Vong Tam Kuong and “Choi Lan” were the same person or not was not proved. In the birth registrations of Vong Tam Seng and Vong Tak Heng, there was no registered information showing that their grandfather was also named “Choi Lan”.
From the notarial certificates and the private documents (“Sá-Shi-Kai”) long time ago, the CCAC found that the Chinese name of “Vong Tang Kong” was 黃譚光and that of “Chui Lan” was 崔霖. In fact, the fact that a person surnamed Vong has an alternative surname Choi does not fit in Chinese naming customs. In addition, even if Vong Tam Kuong was also named “Choi Lan”, there was no evidence proving that “Choi Lan” was the parcel owner shown in the property registration.
According to the information of marital registration of the Civil Registry, Vong Tam Seng’s wife was Chau Chu, but he claimed in the suit that his wife was Ho Fong Meng. In the indictment submitted to the court, Vong Tam Seng and Vong Tak Heng claimed that their grandmother was Chan Si, but Vong Tam Seng’s birth registration showed that his grandmother was Ho Si. In the court’s final verdict, their grandmother became Choi Si.
The CCAC considered that the statements made by Vong Tam Seng and Vong Tak Heng in the litigation were inconsistent with the civil registration data, violating the stipulation about registered civil identity, which states that any facts related to civil registration of a person can only be proved based on the official Civil Registry and cannot be contradicted by any other evidence. Although Vong Tam Seng and Vong Tak Heng deceased in 1995 and 1999 respectively, they already sold the parcel to Chong Fai Properties Investment Company Limited at 150,000,000 patacas in October 1993.
Conducting a land boundary survey and issuing a cadastral map
After obtaining the title of the parcel with a description no. 6150 as an heir, Vong Tam Seng applied for a land boundary survey in 1992 and 1993 respectively, where he claimed that the parcel was located at Alto de Coloane adjacent to Estrada do Campo and Estrada de Seac Pai Van. He claimed in the two applications that the area of the parcel was 111,848 m2 and 57,300 m2 respectively. However, due to a complete lack of proof, that the area of the parcel was not indicated in the property registration and that the location of the parcel was obviously at odds with the “four boundaries” recorded in the property registration, the then Department for Cartography and Cadastre refused to issue a cadastral map.
In December 1993, Vong Tam Seng completed a Miscellaneous Notification Form of Property Tax (M/10) at the Branch Office of the Financial Services of the Islands, where he declared that the parcel with a description no. 6150 had an area of approximately 56,592 m2. Later, his lawyer submitted a transcription certificate of the M/10 form to the court and requested the area of the parcel to be added to a previous lawsuit document in the relevant heir eligibility confirmation dossier. Upon the approval from the judge, the lawyer used a court document as a basis for applying for the addition of a remark to the property registration indicating that “the area of the parcel was 56,592 m2”.
In July 1994, lawyer Paulo dos Remédios completed an M/10 form at the Branch Office of the Financial Services of the Islands, where he changed the original “four boundaries” on the property registration to the present location of the Alto do Coloane. He also applied for a transcription certificate of it. In August 1994, Chong Fai Limited that had already purchased the parcel applied for a land boundary survey. As the then Department for Cartography and Cadastre thought the parcel area was added to the property registration and the location of the parcel was confirmed by the transcription certificate issued by the Financial Services, its previous doubts had been resolved. Therefore, it issued a cadastral map for the parcel.
The CCAC pointed out in the report that M/10 form is filled in by the interest parties only and has no other effects but the declaration ones, namely to declare the matters such as change of address. The information filled in the M/10 form would not be automatically substantiated upon the submission and the form had no probative effect. The issuance of the transcription certificates by the Branch Office of the Financial Services of the Islands was a weird and rare action because it had neither the capability to confirm the authenticity of the declared matters nor the power to issue any certificates related to the identification of a real property.
The Branch Office of the Financial Services of the Islands turned the transcription of the content filled in by the interest party into a certificate, i.e. had the content declared by the interest party “packaged” into a certificate issued by a public department. The court approved the amendment of a suit document according to one of the certificates. The Real Estate Registry added the remark in the property registration based on the court document. Through these acts of “packaging”, the area of the parcel, which was not proved by any official documents, was openly added in the property registration.
The report also mentioned that when the court allowed adding the statement that “the approximate area is 56,592 m2” in the schedule of property, the value of the parcel declared by the interest party in the dossier was 57,000 patacas. The CCAC believed that the area of the parcel claimed by the interest party might be fake. If not, the declared value might be wrong because it was impossible that the land price in Coloane would be as cheap as 1 pataca per square metre at that time.
Doubts on the location and area of the parcel
The CCAC considered that according to the “four boundaries” indicated in the property registration, the east and north of the parcel with a description no. 6150 were on Estrada do Campo. This shows that the parcel should be located near the current Health Station of Coloane and the Academy of Public Security Forces of Macao at Estrada do Campo and thus it was definitely not at Alto de Coloane, because Estrada do Campo is actually on the west and the south of the site of the Alto de Coloane project.
The most important and effective evidence to prove the real location of the parcel is the “four boundaries” in the property registration: north and east on Estrada do Campo, south on House no. 2 and west on Beco da Porta. If we can locate Beco da Porta, we can find out the real location of the parcel through locating the intersection of Estrada do Campo and Beco da Porta.
Although the location of Beco da Porta is not found in the existing maps and information of Coloane, the data of the population census conducted on 31st December 1878 published on the Official Gazette of the Macao Portuguese Government shows that there were houses and residents on Beco da Porta, which revealed that when Choi Lam purchased the parcel and houses in 1903, Beco da Porta still existed.
The CCAC also found in the investigation that when Choi Lam purchased the parcel located at Estrada do Campo in 1903, he also purchased three houses located at Rua dos Negociantes at the same time. According to the then sale and purchase deed, the north of one of the houses, which was located at no. 40 of Rua dos Negociantes, was on Beco da Porta, while the south of it was a house located at no. 38 of Rua dos Negociantes. The east was on Estrada do Campo, while the west was on Rua dos Negociantes. This shows that Beco da Porta lied to the south of Estrada do Campo near Rua dos Negociantes, while the parcel with a description no. 6150 was also located there.
However, the cadastral map showed that the parcel with a description no. 6150 was located at Alto de Coloane to the north of Estrada do Campo. The CCAC’s report revealed that when lawyer Paulo dos Remédios updated the “four boundaries” in the declaration form in July 1994, he replaced “northeast on Estrada do Campo” with “northwest on Estrada do Campo”. It is unable to investigate if he did it intentionally or unintentionally, but the change of only one word has resulted in a “switch” of the location of the parcel from one side of Estrada do Campo to another side which is at Alto de Coloane.
The “four boundaries” updated by lawyer Paulo dos Remédios updated in the M/10 form was northwest on Estrada do Campo and Estrada de Seac Pai Van, southeast on Estrada Militar, northeast on Seac Pai Van Park and Aldeia da Esperança. He omitted “House no. 2” and “Beco da Porta”, which were actually shown in the property registration. Since the parcel at Alto de Coloane is still a wilderness nowadays, it is impossible that there were streets or roads around there. In addition, Estrada de Seac Pai Van and Seac Pai Van Park were built later.
According to the information provided by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the military blockhouse located within the project site was built in 1884 and served as a supplementary military facility of the fortress of Coloane. In other words, when Choi Lam purchase the parcel at Estrada do Campo in 1903, the military blockhouse already existed. If the parcel purchased by Choi Lam was really located at Alto de Coloane, then the establishment of the blockhouse, no matter it was built before or after the purchase, would be against common sense.
The CCAC stated in the report that the property registration in 1903 did not indicate the area of the parcel with a description no. 6150. However, from the property transactions done at the same time, we can roughly estimate the area of the parcel. When Choi Lam purchased the parcel at Estrada do Campo at 300 patacas, he also bought the house at no. 32-34 of Rua dos Negociantes at the same price. The area of the house, 252 m2, was registered when he sold the house in 1923. Therefore, it is impossible that the area of the parcel was 56,592 m2.
The street alignment plan that went against administrative instructions
In August 1999, in response to Chong Fai Limited’s application, the DSSOPT issued a street alignment plan for the parcel with a description no. 6150, where it stipulated that the parcel owner was only permitted to construct 7-storey buildings not more than 20.5 m (or 33.4 m above sea level) in height along Estrada do Campo and Estrada de Seac Pai Van. Moreover, the parcel owner was not permitted to carry out massive hill excavation, as an area at Alto de Coloane, covering some 20,000 m2 and adjacent to Estrada do Alto de Coloane and Estrada Militar, should be construction-free and green treated.
In May 2004, Win Loyal Limited and Chong Fai Limited entered into a sale and purchase deed in Macao. The former purchased the parcel from the latter at a price of HKD88,000,000 and then applied for a new street alignment plan in March 2009. According to a preliminary development proposal for the land parcel submitted by Win Loyal Limited, the company planned to construct nine 22-metre high independent villas and nine 115-metre high residential buildings with 37 storeys.
In December 2009, the DSSOPT issued a street alignment plan, where it stipulated that the plot ratio of the parcel concerned should be 5 and it should be divided into three sections for planning: the permitted maximum building height for the section adjacent to Estrada de Seac Pai Van should be 80 m; the section adjacent to Estrada do Campo fell within the area of the planning laid down in Administrative Instruction no. 01/DSSOPT/2009 and the permitted maximum building height should be 8.9 m; for the section adjacent to Alto de Coloane near Estrada do Alto de Coloane and Estrada Militar, only 9-metre high independent villas would be allowed and the surrounding area should be green treated.
Win Loyal Limited applied for a new street alignment plan again in March 2010 and requested the DSSOPT to relax the planning terms by increasing the permitted maximum building height to 198 m above sea level for the construction of 63-storey buildings and changing the plot ratio of 5 to a net plot ratio of 9.
In April 2011, the DSSOPT issued a new street alignment plan and no longer set different building height limits according to the topography of the concerned area. It regulated the overall permitted maximum building height to be 100 m above sea level and the permitted maximum net plot ratio to be 8, which was equivalent to a plot ratio of 12. Win Loyal Limited submitted a draft of the building proposal according to this street alignment plan. According to the proposal, the project, occupying 48,868 m2 and having a total gross floor area of 668,741 m2, was slated to develop 13 towers comprising not more than 33 storeys.
The CCAC considered that since the southern part of the site of the Alto de Coloane project adjacent to Estrada do Campo fell within the area of the planning laid down in Administrative Instruction no. 01/DSSOPT/2009, the permitted maximum building height should only be 8.9 m. However, according to the street alignment plan issued by the DSSOPT, the permitted maximum building height was 100 m, which obviously contradicted the planning terms set forth in the administrative instruction.
The CCAC pointed out that if there was no problem and dispute concerning the title, location and area of the parcel where the Alto de Coloane project is located, the parcel owner might apply for a new planning proposal according to the Urban Planning Law and subsequent approval procedures might follow. However, since the parcel is a State property, whether the relevant street alignment plan is valid is now a minor problem.
Lack of legal basis for environmental and greening assessments
In March 2009, Win Loyal Limited submitted a development proposal, where it planned to construct nine 22-metre high independent villas and nine 115-metre high residential buildings. The Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) gave the following advice: “As the development of the project will lead to massive hill excavation, shrinking green area and damages to the hill’s role in pollutant filtration, re-assessment of the impacts of the construction on the ecological environment is recommended.”
The Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) provided the following opinions: “In order to have the project developed on level land, hill excavation is inevitable. This will cause massive damages to the structure and vegetation of the hill. In addition to the loss of a considerable green area, the excavated part of the hill will become a concreted slope.” “Coloane has been the major hill area of Macao all along. Therefore, it needs careful consideration of whether the construction of the project will conflict with the urban planning of the city.”
Despite that the DSPA and IACM expressed their concern over the impacts of massive hill excavation and construction of high-rise buildings at Alto de Coloane, according to the street alignment plan issued by the DSSOPT, all the 13 buildings will be at a height of 100 m above sea level. In February 2013, Win Loyal Limited submitted the environmental and landscape assessment reports to the DSSOPT. Later on, the DSPA and the IACM put forward their amendment advices on these reports. They also accepted the assessments of the project’s impacts on the environment, landscape and greening in the end.
According to the investigation of the CCAC, as far as the Alto de Coloane project was concerned, there were no clear rules and regulations serving as reference for the assessments carried out by the DSPA and the IACM. There were only some internal guidelines formulated by the departments themselves. Due to the lack of the relevant statutory competence, their technical opinions about environmental protection, landscape and greening did not have any binding effect on the application for approval of the construction project and the approval made by the DSSOPT. Furthermore, as they were not able to enter the site for observation and confirmation, it was not possible to monitor whether the developer would fulfil the terms it had promised in the technical reports such as the environmental impact assessment report. As a result, they could only conduct the assessments basing on the information provided by the developer.
Conclusion and recommendation
According to the conclusion made by the CCAC, the parcel with a description number 6150 is actually located near Largo do Presidente António Ramalho Eanes in the old Coloane Village instead of being at Alto de Coloane adjacent to Estrada do Campo and Estrada de Seac Pai Van, while the actual area of the parcel is, at the most, a few hundred square metres instead of 53,866 m2.
Since the information that the land boundary survey was based on was obviously at odds with reallity, the administrative act of the confirmation of the boundary was groundless. Therefore, the cadastral map issued by the then Department for Cartography and Cadastre is invalid. Moreover, the street alignment plan and the official building plan approved based on the relevant cadastral information is also invalid. The street alignment plan of the Alto de Coloane project went against the planning terms provided for in the administrative instruction. Therefore, the DSSOPT should reject the application for the official building plan.
Finally, the CCAC believed that the parcel at Alto de Coloane adjacent to Estrada do Campo and Estrada de Seac Pai Van, where the construction project at Alto de Coloane is located, is not registered in the Real Estate Registry. Therefore, according to Article 7 of the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region, it is a State property. The CCAC suggested the Macao SAR Government recovering the land parcel following appropriate procedure and method.