The decision was made after the government reassessed a feasibility report on the proposed light rail project and solicited public opinions.

Ao Man Long, Secretary for Transport and Public Works, said that time is not ripe for Macao to start such a massive infrastructure project, and the government has indefinitely postponed it.

According to the initial feasibility study, the 17-kilometer elevated rail line is estimated to cost some 2.7 billion patacas (US$325 million) to build.

The planned rail line would start at the Hong Kong-Macao Terminal and end at the Macao International Airport, passing by the famous Lisboa Hotel, the Macao Tower and the Lotus Bridge that links Macao with the neighboring city of Zhuhai. It runs through Macao?s third cross-sea bridge scheduled to open in early 2005 between the western parts of the Macao Peninsula and Taipa Island.

Lionel Vai Tac Leong, director of the Macao Development Strategy Center, said that the decision to postpone the project does not mean it is canceled.

Macao?s economy, which is heavily dependent on the gaming and tourism industries, has been deeply affected by external factors - an obscure global economy made worse by the US-led war on Iraq and the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome. Therefore the government is right in giving priority to stimulating the economy and curbing the SARS epidemic, he explained.

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2003)