Society

Macao to spend $10m on habitat for panda pair

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-29 20:53

MACAO - The government of Macao special administrative region (SAR) announced Saturday that it will spend 80 million patacas ($10 million) on the construction of a facility that will house the panda pair, a gift to the SAR from China's central government.

Related readings:  Mainland selects pandas to give to Macao

The central government has chosen two pandas, a male code-named 717 and a female code-named 710, at the Chengdu Research Base of Panda Breeding, as the gift to the SAR, according to a press statement from the SAR government.

The decision was announced after the SAR's Secretary for Administration and Justice Florinda da Rosa Silva Chan, who led an official delegation to the base in Chengdu, met with officials from the central government, according to the statement.

The construction of the panda habitat in Macao has already started and it was expected to be completed in September this year, the SAR government also said.

President Hu Jintao announced the central government's decision to give a pair of pandas to Macao in December last year.

Aside from building habitats for the panda pair, the SAR government will also launch a dedicated website and initiate a campaign that will solicit names for the pair.