The new Government Services Centre in the peninsula, located on the ground floor of the Mong Son social rental housing estate, comes into service at 12 noon today following its inauguration ceremony in the morning, after its predecessor, located opposite the Luso-Chinese Vocational and Technical School, closed for good on Friday evening.
The new service centre, equipped with 57 service counters run by various public entities, features “home-like” decorations, with bookcases where service users can take books to read or just sit down while waiting for services, according to a media tour organised by the government on Friday.
According to a notice released by the government to the media yesterday, the new service centre’s inauguration ceremony will start at 10:30 a.m. today.
After tomorrow, i.e., the day after the Mid-Autumn Festival, a public holiday, the new service centre’s opening hours will remain unchanged from the previous one, namely between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. from Mondays to Fridays. It will be closed on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays.
Macau has two Government Services Centres, one in the peninsula and the other one in Taipa. The two Government Services Centres are one-stop facilities where various government entities run their respective service counters so that those needing services from different public entities can complete public administrative formalities “at one place in one go”.
For the peninsula, the previous Government Services Centre, which was inaugurated by the then chief executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah in December 2009, was housed in a low-rise private building initially earmarked for commercial purposes, located opposite the Luso-Chinese Vocational and Technical School in Areia Preta district. The government had leased the entire building, with four floors above ground, for its Government Services Centre. Before being leased out to the government, the building was initially known as San Kin Wa Commercial Centre (新建華商業中心).
The Government Services Centre in Taipa, which opened in 2019, is also a private property leased out to the government, located on a podium floor of the Nova Park (濠珀) residential estate.
The two Government Services Centres are managed and operated by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM).
The peninsula’s new Government Services Centre that comes into operation at noon today is located on the ground floor of the new social rental housing estate built on the plot of the former CEM power station on Avenida de Venceslau de Morais (慕拉士大馬路).
The new social housing estate comprising three blocks is known as Mong Son Building (望信樓), where tenants started to move into their flats late last year.
Avenida de Venceslau de Morais serves as a dividing line between Areia Preta and Mong Ha districts.
The government announced early this year that it was aiming to relocate its Government Services Centres to the new location in Mong Son Building in the fourth quarter of 2025.
IAM officials announced the new service centre’s opening date, i.e., today, October 6, in a press conference on Tuesday last week. Afterwards, IAM officials organised a media tour on Friday to brief journalists on site about the new service centre’s facilities.
The previous service centre, located on Rua Nova da Areia Preta (黑沙環新街) near its junction with Avenida Leste do Hipódromo (馬場東大馬路), had three floors used for service counters, from the ground floor to the second floor, with the third floor used for back offices. It closed for good at 6 p.m. on Friday.
The new service centre on Avenida de Venceslau de Morais has only one floor used for service counters, i.e., the ground floor, with the first floor used for back offices.
57 service counters, larger 24/7 self-service centre
During Friday’s media tour, Ho Cheng Wa, who heads the IAM Integrated Services and Quality Supervision Department, underlined that while the number of service counters in the new centre is slightly smaller than in its predecessor, the government has concluded that the number will be sufficient to meet residents’ needs as they have become more willing to use e-government services over recent years, such as the government’s Macao One Account app and self-service kiosks.
Ho noted that certain steps of different government services still require residents to use in-person counter services.
The new service centre is equipped with 57 service counters, providing over 300 services from 24 public entities, comprising nine areas of services, namely identity documentation, public works and commercial affairs, municipal affairs, social affairs, social security matters, various types of registration services, taxation, notarial services, and residency and stay-permit affairs.
The 24/7 government self-service centre set up in an area of the ground floor of the old Government Services Centre ceased operations at 9 a.m. yesterday. With the opening of the new Government Services Centre at midday today, its 24/7 government self-service centre will then also come into operation.
Ho said on Friday that the 24/7 government self-service centre in the new Government Services Centre is larger than its predecessor, being equipped with more self-service kiosks than in the previous one. The new 24/7 self-service centre will provide over 60 self-service options from various government entities.
As the Government Services Centre has now been relocated to a government-owned property, i.e., an area on the ground floor of Mong Son Building, the government will not have to pay rent to operate the centre anymore. Officials indicated during last Tuesday’s press conference that the government had paid 20 million patacas in rent per year to operate the service centre on Rua Nova da Areia Preta.
Ho noted during Friday’s media tour that the new service centre is designed in soft colours with open spaces, aiming to shorten the distance between service staff and the public. She said that the centre is decorated in a way that creates a “home-like ambiance” for service users.
The new service centre is equipped with facilities such as waiting and rest areas, a self-service photocopying area, parent-child public toilets, and a nursing room.
As seen by the Post during Friday’s media tour, the waiting and rest areas are equipped with sofas, chairs and coffee tables, while the centre’s biggest waiting and rest area is also equipped with bookcases where service users can take books to read while waiting for counter services.
The self-service photocopying area has three photocopiers, which people can pay to use with e-payment tools.
The centre also boasts several vending machines selling drinks and snacks.
This photo taken during Friday’s media tour shows some of the service counters in the new Government Services Centre and its biggest waiting and rest area equipped with bookcases.
Residents wait for counter services at the then Government Services Centre on Rua Nova da Areia Preta on Friday afternoon. It closed for good at 6 p.m. that day. – Photos: Tony Wong
