Roads and Bridges: Macau has 321 kilometers of public roads. Two highway bridges link Macau to Zhuhai, the most recent of which, the 1.3-kilometer-long, six-lane Lotus Bridge, opened in December 1999. Two bridges link peninsular Macau with Taipa. The first, a 2.6 kilometer-long highway bridge, was completed in 1974; the second, completed in 1994 to serve the new Macau International Airport, is 4.4 kilometers long and four lanes wide. An eight-kilometer-long dual-lane highway links the airport and the Zhuhai border crossing. Taipa is connected to Coloane with a 2.2-kilometer-long causeway. The 38-kilometer-long connector, to be called the Lingdingyang Bridge, has been proposed to link Macau and Zhuhai with Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Buses and numerous taxicabs provide public transportation. Motorists in 1999 used some 55,114 automobiles and trucks and 58,116 motorcycles.
Sea Transportation: Jetfoils, turbo catamarans, and catamarans operate between the Macau Maritime Terminal and Hong Kong (Central or Kowloon, depending on type of craft). The trip between Macau and Hong Kong takes between 55 and 70 minutes depending on the type of craft. About 150 trips per day are made between Macau and Hong Kong. The Macau Maritime Terminal is located on the east shore of the Macau Peninsula (Macau outer harbor). The Macau Container Port, located near the Macau International Airport, was opened in 1991. Vessels leaving the port provide multiple daily round trips to Hong Kong and regular container ship service to Taiwan, Singapore, and to Chinese ports within the Zhujiang estuary. Macau's shallow harbor and channels, however, limit the size and number of ships that can enter the port.
The Macau Maritime Terminal with the Macau-Taipa bridge in the background. Courtesy Robert L. Worden
Air Transportation: The Macau International Airport opened in December 1995 on reclaimed land on the east side of Taipa. It handles commercial and general aviation and accommodates all major aircraft up to Boeing 747-400s. There are two offshore runways (3,285 meters and 3,360 meters) and one taxiway (1,460 meters). Up to 6 million passengers per year capacity is available. Air Macau (established 1994 with 51 percent ownership by China) and more than twenty other airlines provide international flights to and from Taiwan (Taipei and Kaohsiung), Singapore, Manila, Bangkok, Pyongyang, Anchorage, and Los Angeles; and domestic flights to and from Beijing, Chongqing, Fuzhou, Guilin, Haikou, Kunming, Nanjing, Ningbo, Sanya, Shanghai, Wuhan, Xiamen, Xi'an, and Zhengzhou. Around 200 flights are scheduled per week. Helicopter service is available every 30 minutes during the day from the Macau Maritime Terminal to central Hong Kong.
Newspapers: There are seventeen newspapers (twelve in Chinese, five in Portuguese). Aomen Ribao (or Ou Mun Iat Pou, Macau Daily News) is sponsored by the Chinese Communist Party and has the largest circulation (100,000). Additionally, Chinese-language newspapers from Hong Kong are popular.
Radios and Radio Stations: There are 250,000 radios; two twenty-hour FM radio stations, one Portuguese, one Chinese; and four AM stations. Hong Kong radio stations also are popular in Macau.
Televisions and Television Channels: There are 70,300 television sets (1997 estimate); two television channels: one Portuguese and one Chinese. Television broadcasts also are received from Hong Kong and widely watched by Macau residents.
Telephones: The number of telephone lines has been increasing since the mid-1990s. In 1997 there were 222,456 telephones; by 1999, 300,066 lines were in use. In 1999 there were 686 telephone lines per 1,000 people. Cellular-telephone-use statistics were not available. International access is via Hong Kong and China and via Intelsat (Indian Ocean).
Data as of August 7, 2000