Activists calling on UN to keep Macau's light shining
South China Morning Post
FOX YI HU2007-02-04
Heritage activists in Macau are set to take their fight to preserve views of the historic Guia Lighthouse to the United Nations.
People from all walks of life are joining the lighthouse movement to save the 140-year-old landmark and other heritage sites from the city's breakneck growth.
The lighthouse stands atop the 91-metre Guia Hill, the highest point on the Macau Peninsula. But a property development scheme threatens to throw up a 300-metre-long concrete wall of high-rise buildings that will obscure the landmark.
We are prepared for a long battle, said architect Mark Mak, of the League of Guia Lighthouse Protectors, a campaign group of historians, architects and scholars. Even if we fail, we will stand united to defend the next monument.
After drawing a blank with the Macau government, the group is drafting a letter to Unesco explaining the threat facing the lighthouse, which the global cultural body listed as part of the city's World Heritage site when it conferred the status on Macau's historic centre and Guia Hill in 2005.
Built in 1865, the Guia Lighthouse was the first modern lighthouse on the Chinese coast.
Last September, the government relaxed a long-standing restriction on the maximum height of buildings near Guia Hill, opening the way for developers to plan new buildings - as high as 135 metres - at the foot of the hill.
To the dismay of conservationists, one of the new buildings - to be occupied by the central government's liaison office in Macau - is intended to be 99.9 metres tall, to symbolise Macau's 1999 handover to China.
Local historian Chan Wai-hang is among the most outspoken voices in the campaign.
The buildings will block the view from the lighthouse and undermine its World Heritage value, he said, It is a heritage site that belongs to the world, not just Macau.
Mr Mak said: We are very disappointed that construction has started near Guia Hill. We hope the height limit will be revised downward to the 20.5 metre limit set in the early 1990s.
When the liaison office building was planned in the 1990s, its height was to be 20.5 metres in accordance with that rule.
The letter to Unesco is expected to suggest the Macau government cease approving development schemes until it has revised the height limit for buildings.
In response to the preservation campaign, the liaison office issued a statement last week indicating the height of its building may be adjusted.
We will reassess the designed height of the new office building and try to keep it within the height of Guia Hill, it said.
But conservationists still worry what the height of the building will be. The foundations for the liaison office building have been laid and construction has started.
It is believed the Macau government is in a difficult position because it has approved the building's plans and has no legal grounds to reverse its consent.
A day after the liaison office statement, Macau's secretary for social affairs and culture, Fernando Chui Sai-on, released a statement saying his government was working on the problem.
The government will soon introduce a special directive to adjust the plans for buildings being or to be constructed in the Avenida do Dr Rodrigo Rodrigues area, the statement said.
People from all walks of life are joining the lighthouse movement to save the 140-year-old landmark and other heritage sites from the city's breakneck growth.
The lighthouse stands atop the 91-metre Guia Hill, the highest point on the Macau Peninsula. But a property development scheme threatens to throw up a 300-metre-long concrete wall of high-rise buildings that will obscure the landmark.
We are prepared for a long battle, said architect Mark Mak, of the League of Guia Lighthouse Protectors, a campaign group of historians, architects and scholars. Even if we fail, we will stand united to defend the next monument.
After drawing a blank with the Macau government, the group is drafting a letter to Unesco explaining the threat facing the lighthouse, which the global cultural body listed as part of the city's World Heritage site when it conferred the status on Macau's historic centre and Guia Hill in 2005.
Built in 1865, the Guia Lighthouse was the first modern lighthouse on the Chinese coast.
Last September, the government relaxed a long-standing restriction on the maximum height of buildings near Guia Hill, opening the way for developers to plan new buildings - as high as 135 metres - at the foot of the hill.
To the dismay of conservationists, one of the new buildings - to be occupied by the central government's liaison office in Macau - is intended to be 99.9 metres tall, to symbolise Macau's 1999 handover to China.
Local historian Chan Wai-hang is among the most outspoken voices in the campaign.
The buildings will block the view from the lighthouse and undermine its World Heritage value, he said, It is a heritage site that belongs to the world, not just Macau.
Mr Mak said: We are very disappointed that construction has started near Guia Hill. We hope the height limit will be revised downward to the 20.5 metre limit set in the early 1990s.
When the liaison office building was planned in the 1990s, its height was to be 20.5 metres in accordance with that rule.
The letter to Unesco is expected to suggest the Macau government cease approving development schemes until it has revised the height limit for buildings.
In response to the preservation campaign, the liaison office issued a statement last week indicating the height of its building may be adjusted.
We will reassess the designed height of the new office building and try to keep it within the height of Guia Hill, it said.
But conservationists still worry what the height of the building will be. The foundations for the liaison office building have been laid and construction has started.
It is believed the Macau government is in a difficult position because it has approved the building's plans and has no legal grounds to reverse its consent.
A day after the liaison office statement, Macau's secretary for social affairs and culture, Fernando Chui Sai-on, released a statement saying his government was working on the problem.
The government will soon introduce a special directive to adjust the plans for buildings being or to be constructed in the Avenida do Dr Rodrigo Rodrigues area, the statement said.
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