Macao's historic site to become public square soon

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 ◆ Macao's historic site to become public square soon

Work is well under way on a public square being built on the site witnessing the handover ceremony of Macao's return to the motherland.

Builders told Xinhua recently that the 16,500-square-meter project, which can accommodate 4,000 to 5,000 people, is scheduled to open to the public at the end of September.

The square site has been enclosed and workers have been seen leveling the ground for a period of time. It will be paved with cheese-colored cobbles in a Portuguese style, with crisscross marble lines signaling integration of the East and West cultures in Macao.

Besides as a place for government activities, gala celebrations and gathering of local residents, its historical significance will enable the 18.68-million-patacas (2.34 million US dollars) square to be a tourist spot.

The Macao Forum was built on the site to accommodate celebration activities of the handover in December 1999, but it was torn down soon afterwards and the land, which was reclaimed from the sea on the southeastern tip of the Macao Peninsula, became a patch of grassland.