China has approved plans by Macau to reclaim an area of land equivalent to 500 football pitches in a bid to ease a shortage of space in the Asian gambling hub, the territory's government said Tuesday.
The scheme calls for the reclamation of about 360 hectares (890 acres) of land from the sea, it said in a statement, in a move aimed at providing new housing space for over 100,000 residents in the next two decades.
The project would increase the territory's land area by 12 percent.
Most of the reclamation will be carried out off the northeast of Macau's peninsula and the northern coast of nearby Taipa island.
There will also be smaller-scale reclamation on Macau's southern tip, the daily South China Morning Post said.
Macau's government said the project would give residents public housing, shopping complexes and low-rise housing estates. There was no mention of any casino developments in the statement.
Beijing's approval came almost four years after Macau first proposed the scheme in 2006. Macau currently has about 550,000 residents, but the number is expected to grow to 644,000 by 2011, the Post said.
The city has a separate legal system from mainland China and enjoys semi-autonomy, but it needed permission for the reclamation because Beijing has jurisdiction over its surrounding waters.
Macau's land area has grown by about 68 percent to 29 square kilometres (11 square miles) in the last two decades after a series of reclamation projects.
The city covers the Macau peninsula and neighbouring islands of Taipa and Coloane.
The former Portuguese colony, which was handed back to China in 1999, is the only Chinese city where casino gambling is allowed.
It has now overtaken Las Vegas in terms of gaming revenue after opening the sector to foreign competition in 2002.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
