No casinos in new land reclamation projects: Macau govt

Dec 21, 2017 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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The Macau government is proposing a bill barring new gaming projects from being developed in any fresh land reclamation scheme involving the city’s demarcated waters.

The bill was announced on Tuesday by the city’s Executive Council – the Macau government’s main advisory body.

The decision to bar casinos from any new land reclamation scheme also covers a set of five land reclamation projects currently under development, said the Executive Council’s spokesperson.

The bill announced on Tuesday aims to set a framework for the management of Macau’s newly demarcated waters.

It was announced in December 2015 that Macau was to be given powers to administer 85 square kilometres (33 sq miles) of water surrounding the territory, following a decision from China’s State Council. At the time, it had already been announced that if any land reclamation was to take place in those waters, gaming venues would not be allowed.

Any fresh proposal for land reclamation involving Macau’s newly demarcated waters needs to be approved to China’s central government.

At the time of Macau’s handover from Portuguese administration in 1999, there was no provision for the Macau government to manage the waters surrounding the territory.

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