Chinese President Hu Jintao attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the University of Macao's (UM) new campus on Hengqin Island Sunday afternoon, starting the construction of the new campus, which was expected to be completed within three years.

Hu arrived in Macao on Saturday to attend the celebration activities marking the 10th anniversary of Macao's return to China.

The following are some basic facts about UM's new campus on Hengqin Island:

An island of 106.46 square km, Hengqin is situated in the south of Zhuhai, a coastal city of China's southern province of Guangdong. It is separated from Macao by the Pearl River Estuary.

Hengqin is currently under the jurisdiction of Guangdong's Zhuhai city, but, on June 27, 2009, the ninth session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress passed a bill to give the Macao SAR jurisdiction over 1.09 square kilometers of land located on the eastern coast of the island, where UM's new campus will be built. The passage of this bill means that the government of the Macao SAR will exercise jurisdiction over the new campus zone according to the laws of the SAR.

The university's jurisdiction over the new site would expire on Dec. 19, 2049, but could be longer or shorter with the consent of the State Council, according to Zhou Bo, vice director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council.

Being a prestigious public school in Macao, the UM currently occupies a hilly strip of no more than 0.05 square km, and it has just over 6,600 students due to limited land.

According to the UM, the new campus site is just across a narrow water channel from Macao, and a tunnel will be built under the channel to enable 24-hour commuting between the campus and Macao. Faculty, students, staff, visitors and Macao SAR residents will be able to access the campus conveniently through the tunnel without going through any border control.

With a larger area, the new campus will have a minimum accommodation capacity of 10,000 students and better education and research facilities.

 (Source from Xinhua News)