Cotai (Chinese: 路氹城; Cantonese Yale: Louhtáhm Sìhng; Portuguese: Zona do Aterro de Cotai) is a 5.2 square kilometres (2.0 sq mi) piece of newly reclaimed land on top of Seac Pai Bay between Taipa and Coloane islands in Macau, that has made two independent islands become one island, since 2005. The word (a combination of Coloane and Taipa) can also refer to the entire new island which was formed by the reclamation. In the second sense, the "Special Administrative Region" of Macau now consists of the Macau Peninsula plus Cotai Island, about a mile to the south.Cotai was created to provide Macau with a new gambling and tourism area since Macau is so densely populated and land is scarce, and many hotels and casinos can be found in the vicinity of the "Cotai Strip". In 2006, a new hospital was founded in the Cotai area, the MUST Hospital, which is associated with the Macau University of Science and Technology Foundation.