Government officials garner opinions from business representatives from the Inner Harbour area
The Government is garnering opinions from different sectors on a proposal to introduce short-term measures to improve flood control and drainage management in the Inner Harbour area.
The Government always had attached great importance to flooding and drainage problems in the Inner Harbour area, the Director of the Marine and Water Bureau, Ms Wong Soi Man, said on Wednesday (7 March) during a joint meeting with business representatives from that district of the city.
The joint meeting was attended by representatives, respectively, from: the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau; the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau; and the Pearl River Hydraulic Research Institute, commissioned by the Government to conduct research on the flooding and drainage issues in the Inner Harbour area.
The Government was proposing to develop a 2.13-kilometre-long flood barrier system alongside the Inner Harbour. The flood barrier system would stretch from the Maritime Training School in Barra, to the New Maritime Administration Building in Doca do Lam Mau.
The proposed barrier would be 3 metres high and able to withstand tidal waves of up to 4.8 metres high. Tidal waves of 4.8 metres high were considered a rare event in Macao, only occurring on average once in every 20 years, officials said during the meeting.
The proposed system would include a mix of semi-permanent and fully removable flood barriers, plus reinforced concrete walls.
The system would also include access points to piers in the Inner Harbour, to minimise business disruption in the area. A total of 13 fixed water pumps would be installed along the flood barrier to improve drainage and prevent backflow of seawater into the city’s sewerage system.
As a long-term measure to prevent flooding in the Inner Harbour district, the Government had proposed to build a tidal barrier at Wanzai waterway in Zhuhai Prefecture, and an overall flood control system for the tidal basin covering Zhongshan, Zhuhai and Macao. Both projects have been approved by the relevant ministries and departments of the Central Government.
Such projects however were expected to take several years to be implemented; therefore in the meantime, the Government was carrying out studies on how to optimise and strengthen the city’s flood control and drainage systems, officials explained.
Business representatives from the Inner Harbour area present at Wednesday’s meeting expressed their views on the district’s business environment, and potential impact of developing such a flood barrier system.