Guia Lighthouse Issue Won’t Go Away

Written on November 30, 2007 by Macau

This is a continuation of our earlier report on the Guia Lighthouse height restrictions saga.

The local government has received documents sent by the cultural authorities in Beijing, addressing concerns over threats of a new residential building blocking the view to and from the Guia lighthouse, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Fernando Chui Sai On, said yesterday, addressing lawmakers at the Legislative Assembly.

He said that the Cultural Affairs Bureau was closely looking into the issue.

Lawmaker Jose Pereira Coutinho had asked Chui about a story published in yesterday’s South China Morning Post, indicating the Beijing letter.

“We can’t destroy something that belongs to the whole of Macau,” Chui said, referring to the 90-metre lighthouse’s UNESCO listing.

“We will act in order to defend our cultural heritage site,” Chui said in response to Ng.

Ng also said he is still waiting for the government to look into the issue to try and find viable solutions, but the government has never replied to the lawmaker’s second interpellation regarding the issue.

From the Guia lighthouse, the once overall view of Macau will soon be blocked by two towers, which are already being built at the foot of the Guia hill, and a new 126 metre high, 34 storey residential block, which is also under construction half way up the Guia hill.

Yet according to the Secretary, the projects and lands on which the buildings are being built had been approved and granted before Macau applied to have the lighthouse listed as part of the World Heritage Site.

“We are trying to have the heights of the buildings lowered, but [Jaime] Carion (director of the Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) has said the land concessions had been granted before the site was ever listed with UNESCO,” Chui added.