The Macao SAR (Special Administrative Region) government has revised its original land reclamation project, submitted to China's central government in 2006, due to issues concerning environmental protection, said a top transport official of the SAR on Monday.

A previous report by The Macao Daily News said that the SAR government has recently submitted a new land reclamation project to the central government for examination and approval, including five planned reclamation lands along the island city's coast, the total area of which amounted to five square kilometers.

Responding to the media report, Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Lao Si Io, said that the total area of the new reclamation project will be "slightly larger" than the 2006 version, on which the central government raised some questions concerning the project's impact on the environment of the region.

The reclamation project has been revised accordingly and the new version has been submitted to the central government for final approval, he added.

Governing about three million square kilometers of sea area under the UN maritime treaty, China has recently adopted tougher regulations on the management of its seas.

Ever since 2002, only one reclamation project submitted by the SAR government, the Zhuhai-Macao Cross Border Industrial area was approved by the central government.

(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2008)