The government has appointed Vai Hoi Ieong, a former director of the Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA), as a deputy director of the said bureau effective from February 17.
The bureau has two deputy directors in its organisational structure.
Vai was the bureau’s director between June 2015 and March 2016. Since then he has worked as a public servant in the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG).
Vai had been a deputy director of the Environmental Protection Bureau since its establishment in June 2009 before being promoted to its director in June 2015.
Since March 2016, Vai has also been a vice-chairman of the Macauport – Port Management Company Limited, a public enterprise where the government currently holds about 32 percent of the shares.
Since Raymond Tam Vai Man, who had headed the Environmental Protection Bureau since March 2016, became the secretary for transport and public works on December 20 last year, the bureau has been headed by Ip Kuong Lam, who had been a deputy director of the bureau since June 2015. Consequently, one of the bureau’s two deputy director positions has been left vacant.
The only serving deputy director of the bureau currently is Hoi Chi Leong, who took up the position in January 2021.
Vai’s appointment as a deputy director of the Environmental Protection Bureau again, which will start on February 17, has been made through an executive order by Tam published in the Official Gazette (BO) yesterday. Tam signed the order on Monday last week.
Vai’s appointment is scheduled to last one year, and can be renewed upon expiration.
Vai’s previous appointment as the bureau’s director, which started on June 29, 2015, was initially slated to last one year, but it was prematurely terminated on March 2, 2016 when the director position was taken up by Tam.
The government decided in February 2016 to prematurely terminate Vai’s then appointment as the bureau’s director and appoint him as a vice-chairman of the Macauport – Port Management Company Limited.
The company, headquartered at Ka Ho Port in Coloane, is currently headed by gaming executive Pansy Ho Chiu-king.
The company, one of Macau’s publicly-funded companies, is tasked with overseeing Macau’s deep-harbour cargo operations.
According to yesterday’s executive order, Vai holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Calgary in Canada, a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and a master’s degree in Public Administration from the National Academy of Governance in Beijing.
Vai Hoi Ieong speaks to reporters in June 2015 after his swearing-in ceremony for his then appointment as the director of the Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) as Ip Kuong Lam (back), who was then appointed as a deputy director and has now been the bureau’s director since December 20 last year, looks on. – Photo: Leong Lok Ian
