The government of the Macao Special Administrative Region plans to invest 4.2 billion patacas (US$525 million) in the construction of an elevated light metro (ELM), local media reported Tuesday.

 

The Macao Post Daily quoted Antonio Jose Castanheira Lourenco, director of the Office for Infrastructure Development, as saying that the ELM network will span some 22 km and cover 26 stations.

 

This public infrastructure project is expected to take 48 months to be completed, the official told the newspaper.

 

The idea of building a mass transit system in Macao could be dated back to the late 1980s.

 

Macao, covering 28.2 square kilometers, has a population of 503, 000 and records an average of 60,000 visitors every day.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2006)