Zona A das Novas Zonas Urbanas e Zona de Administração de Macau na Ilha Fronteiriça Artificial da Ponte Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau 新城A區及港珠澳大橋澳門口岸管理區

Setting and landscape

New Urban Zone A covers 1.38 square kilometres and is the largest of the reclamation areas of Macau's New Urban Zone (澳門新城區). It belongs to the parish of Our Lady of Fátima (花地瑪堂區) and is separated from the north-eastern shore of the peninsula by a channel; a government request to reclaim that channel was not approved by the State Council. The artificial island lies east of Zone A and holds both Macau's border post and Zhuhai's road port, divided by patrol roads and fences. Its ground stands 5 metres above sea level, designed to withstand a once-in-300-years flood tide in the Pearl River estuary.

History

Reclamation of the island began on 15 December 2009, the first works of the whole bridge project, and was finished on 28 November 2013. At midnight on 15 March 2018 the Macau border building and its area were handed over to Macau. The bridge and both ports were inaugurated on 23 October 2018 and opened to traffic the next day. The bridge is a 55-kilometre system of three cable-stayed bridges, an undersea tunnel and four artificial islands, running from this island east to the Hong Kong Link Road.

In 2014 the government announced a new land-use concept for Zone A centred on public housing, with a larger share of land for public facilities. Its detailed plan, known as East-2 (東區-2) and the first detailed district plan in Macau, was published in the official gazette on 18 March 2024 and took effect the next day. The plan protects sightlines to the Guia Lighthouse (東望洋燈塔) through landscape belts and view corridors.

Getting oriented

For most visitors this is arrival geography rather than a sightseeing district: the island is where road traffic from Hong Kong over the bridge reaches Macau. A 3-kilometre bridge opened in October 2024 gives the border area an alternative road link to Taipa (氹仔). The Light Rapid Transit East Line (澳門輕軌東線) is planned to run through Zone A between the Border Gate (關閘), the Taipa reclamation zone E1 and Macau International Airport.