Ilha Verde housing complex faces delay

The construction works of the final building of the Ilha Verde social housing complex should be completed within the first half of 2011, the Housing Bureau (IH) said in a reply to Macau Daily Times.
During December’s Policy Address, secretary for Transport and Public Works, Lau Si Io, promised at the Legislative Assembly that the Ilha Verde block A, also known as Cheng Nga building, would be ready before the end of 2010.
The Cheng Nga building has 25 floors and will include 357 social housing units. A progress report released by the Housing Bureau two months ago claimed “the basic structure construction and building coverage” works had been completed.
Aside from Block A, the Ilha Verde social housing complex has two other buildings completed. On December 2009, the 36-floor Cheng Chong building was concluded, with 252 units for elderly residents. A similar tower, Cheng Choi building, was finished last May with 672 units. The complex located at Estrada Marginal da Ilha Verde will include a total of 1,281 social housing units.
An affordable housing neighbourhood will also be launched at Ilha Verde, with around 4,000 units distributed on four plots. Three of these plots were until recently occupied by shacks that were controversially cleared by a developer. The company was accused last month of having assaulted three men from the same family who lived in one of the last remaining shacks.

14,600 to go

IH gave no reason for this further delay in the Ilha Verde social housing complex. The Government is already racing to deliver its goal of 19,000 public housing units by 2012.
The bureau’s president Tam Kuong Man said last September that 2,606 public housing units had been built. Since then, the bureau has already confirmed to MDTimes the conclusion of two more housing projects.
The Alameda da Tranquilidade 880-unit project is undergoing a safety check while the Government has reached a land exchange agreement with the owner of the plot where the first phase of the Mong Há public housing complex was built.
As such, the number of units completed is now closer to 4,400. However, that figure is still less than a quarter (23 percent) of the 19,000-unit goal secretary Lau Si Io reiterated last November.
The Administration has now less than 24 months to complete almost 14,600 public housing units. It seems to be an uphill battle, as over 8,000 units are still being planned, according to the IH’s latest progress report.
“We have been facing several difficulties,” Lau acknowledged last month, citing “the lack of human resources, not only of construction workers but also engineers” and the illegal occupation of land.