Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JUL 2022年7月 亞博匯 22 In 2021, Hengqin was officially announced as an in-Depth Cooperation Zone. 2021年橫琴被確定為粵澳深度合作區。 W hen Macau Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng delivered his first Policy Address for the Fiscal Year 2020 at the Legislative Assembly on 16 April 2020, he spent considerable time explaining howtheSARplans tomakeuseof Hengqin – the special economic zone sitting just across the river in China’s Guangdong Province. Asked by a reporter during the subsequent press conference whether Hengqin could become a “second Macau”, Ho answered, “That’s what we would like to see and hope for.” Ho’s comments led to speculation that the Central Government might “lease” Hengqin to the Macau SAR Government on a land lease basis – as in the case of the Hengqin campus of the University of Macau. But with the final launch on 13 September 2021 of the Overall Plan for the Construction of the Guangdong- Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, the project was officially announced as a so-called In-Depth Cooperation Zone, essentially handing joint planning, construction and COVER STORY