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The Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government has mapped out an initial plan to build its first light rail line connecting the city's major ports and tourism spots, according to an exclusive report of the Macao Daily News.

The line will run through Macao's third cross-sea bridge scheduled to open in early 2005 between the western parts of Macao Peninsular and Taipa Island.

And it will start at the Hong Kong-Macao Terminal and end at the Macao International Airport, passing by the famous Lisboa Hotel, the Macao Tower and the Lotus Bridge that links Macao with the neighboring city of Zhuhai, the report said.

The move is to address the demand of social and economic development in the future and bustling traffic expected at a time when Macao hosts the 2005 East Asian Games, the paper quoted government sources as saying.

It is also part of a cross-border fast rail line, tipped to join the rail network in the neighboring Guangdong Province.

Another source said that the Guangdong provincial government has already decided to build a rail line between GuangZhou and Zhuhai, linking major cities and towns on the western side of the Pearl River.

In Macao, those opposing the light rail project said on the cost side, the line entails massive investment and will levy a heavy fiscal burden on the SAR government, and it may become a luxuriant means of transport due to shortage of travelers and high fees. Instead, they called for greater efforts for urban renewal and improvement of the existing bus routes.

The Macao Daily News said the SAR government is resorting to various measures to lure investment for the project.