Work to build infrastructure in the Timor-Leste (East Timor) enclave of Oecussi is scheduled to begin Sunday, 25 May, the Timor-Leste minister for public works, Gastão de Sousa said Thursday.

The minister, who is also responsible for coordination of infrastructure projects in the enclave, said that an airport, roads, a power plans and water and power supply networks would be built in the Oecussi Special Administrative Region.

“We have to create minimum conditions to celebrate 500 years since the Portuguese arrived,” in the country, which will be celebrated in 2015, noted Sousa, according to Portuguese news agency Lusa.

In April the government of Timor-Leste approved a law to create the Oecussi Special Administrative Region, where the Social Market Economy Special Zone will be put in place.

The law also covers the island of Ataúro, off the coast of Dili, as a complementary hub for the Oecussi Special Administrative Region, in the tourism sector.

The Social Market Economy Special Zone, a project headed up by former Timor Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, is focused on integrated regional development by creating strategic zones that area attractive to both national and foreign investors.

“The idea is to remove the status of enclave from Oecussi and give it the status of national, regional and sub-regional development hub and Ataúro, as part of that hub, will be focused on integrated tourism,” the government said. (macauhub/TL)