16/07/2012 — mhaa

澳門郵報 | 2012-07-16

Monica Leong

The withdrawal of a clause in the government-drafted heritage protection bill that would have allowed the public to request the conservation of historically valuable buildings has sparked concerns on transparency, and the president of the Macau Heritage Ambassadors Association, Pearl Chao Wai Chu, urged the government yesterday to keep the bill’s spirit intact.

Chao spoke to reporters prior to the opening ceremony of the Heritage Carnival in Patio do Lilau to mark the 7thanniversary of the Historic Centre of Macau being inscribed on the United Nations Education, Science and CulturalOrganisation (UNESCO) World Heritage List.

Chao pointed out that although the government may have its own reason for scrapping the clause on “public participation”, which would have promoted transparency, there should be other mechanisms to ensure transparency in heritage protection.

The heritage protection bill, which the Executive Council has already submitted to the Legislative Assembly for debate and vote, had originally stated that the public could ask the government to evaluate a building that it wished to be placed under protection if they managed to gather at least 500 signatures.

“During the past seven years, people have acquired more knowledge about the city’s heritage sites and the government has been making an effort in heritage promotion and preservation. But the city keeps on developing and the changes will have an impact on the heritage and so we hope the government will keep on updating [heritage protection] measures so that they are in line with the development,” Chao said.