MTel covers more than 70 pct of city

MTel Chairman and CEO Michael Choi Tak Meng said yesterday that his company’s network now covers more than 70 percent of the city’s residential buildings.Choi spoke to reporters yesterday on the sidelines of a Chinese New Year dinner with the media hosted by his company, at The Plaza Restaurant in Zape.According to Choi, the licence agreement with the government requires his company’s network to cover 30 percent of residential buildings by the end of 2014, 70 percent by the end of last

February 10, 2017 | BY admin

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Govt to ban live poultry imports ultimately: Chan

Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan Hoi Fan reaffirmed yesterday that the government’s ultimate aim is to ban the import of any live poultry into Macau, considering that the local risk of the avian influenza virus will be inevitable if the city continues to import live poultry.Chan made the remarks while speaking to reporters after a committee meeting at the legislature.Asked by reporters on Tuesday about the city’s live poultry sales being suspended twice in a fortnight,

February 10, 2017 | BY admin

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Councilllors want stricter rules for online food shops

Some members of the Central District Social Services Consultative Committee urged the government yesterday to monitor the operation of local online food shops by changing their owners’ voluntary registration scheme to a mandatory one, the committee’s deputy convenor Lok Nam Tak said.The Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) launched a voluntary registration scheme for local owners of online shops selling food earlier last year.The bureau’s Food Safety Centre website says the

February 9, 2017 | BY admin

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Lawmakers suggest wider definition of rape

Several members of the legislature’s 3rd Standing Committee suggested yesterday that the act in which an offender inserts an object or any particular part of their body into another person’s vagina or anus should be classified as rape, Cheang Chi Keong, who chairs the committee, said.Cheang briefed reporters after a closed-door meeting with government officials, including Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan Hoi Fan, at the Legislative Assembly (AL).The committee had held its

February 9, 2017 | BY admin

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Rosario hopes residential project finishes on time

Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario said yesterday the government is striving to ensure that occupancy permits for a still-under-construction residential project in Areia Preta will be issued to the developer before the project site’s provisional land concession expires in July.The project, consisting of six high-rise residential buildings, is also being developed by Polytec, the developer of the ill-fated Pearl Horizon project, whose site’s provisional land

February 9, 2017 | BY admin

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Real estate group expects prices to rise up to 10 pct

Macau Real Estate Development Association Chairman Peter Lok Wai Tak said yesterday he expected the city’s home prices to rise by up to 10 percent this year, boosted by the local economy’s stronger performance.Lok spoke to reporters yesterday on the sidelines of a Chinese New Year banquet hosted by the association, at The Plaza Restaurant in Zape.Lok said he expected the number of home purchases to rise by 10 to 15 percent this year, partly because some developers will sell flats in their

February 9, 2017 | BY admin

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Legislative poll budget rises 20 pct: elex officials

Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Committee President Tong Hio Fong said yesterday that the government planned to increase the budget for this year’s Legislative Assembly (AL) elections by 20 percent.The budget for the direct and indirect elections in 2013 was about 48 million patacas, according to official data. A 20 percent increase would lift the budget to about 57 million patacas.The legislative election are held every four years. Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Committee

February 9, 2017 | BY admin

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Group reschedules slow-drive protest

Lawmaker-cum-unionist Jose Pereira Coutinho announced yesterday afternoon that a slow-drive against the government’s “brutal” hike in vehicle-related fees would be staged on Saturday – but a few hours later said in a statement that the protest had been “rescheduled”.Saturday’s slow-drive was axed due to the organisers’ disagreement with the Public Security Police (PSP) about the protest route, according to the statement, which said that the slow-drive would be rescheduled sine

February 9, 2017 | BY admin

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Motor vehicle registrations drop 29 pct last year

The number of new registrations of motor vehicles dropped 29.1 percent year-on-year to 13,935 last year, the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) announced yesterday.While the number of new registrations of motorcycles fell 23.8 percent to 7,784, the number of new registrations of light automobiles dropped 38.6 percent to 5,395 last year.At the end of last year, the total number of licensed motor vehicles stood at 250,450, a year-on-year increase of 0.6 percent. While the number of motorcycles

February 9, 2017 | BY admin

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City’s terrorist threat remains low: govt

Although the city’s terrorist threat remains “low”, the Public Security Forces will further strengthen their assessment of possible security risk factors and improve their law enforcement efforts, the Office of the Secretariat for Security said in a statement yesterday.The office said it decided to issue the statement in response to recent media reports about possible terrorist attacks in Macau.The South China Morning Post recently published an article which quoted a Hong Kong-based risk

February 9, 2017 | BY admin

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No plans for shipyard plots yet: Rosario

No plans have yet been made for Lai Chi Vun Village in Coloane where 11 derelict shipyards are to be demolished beginning next month, Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario said yesterday.Rosario made the remarks on the sidelines of an event held by the Macau Property Agents and Realty Developers Association at The Plaza Restaurant.The Marine and Water Bureau (DSAMA) announced last month the demolition of 11 of 14 shipyards whose land-lease renewals had been refused by the

February 8, 2017 | BY admin

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Boy blackmailed over semi-nude video: police

The Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday announced an online blackmail case in which a local boy aged under 16 was deprived of his mobile phone after he sent video clips showing his naked torso to someone claiming to be a woman who he had met online and then threatened to share his semi-nude video clips with his friends online if he did not hand over his mobile phone to a male accomplice.The boy told his family what had happened and they reported the case to the police after he was told by the

February 8, 2017 | BY admin

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Govt to provide 700 elderly care home places

The chief of the Social Solidarity Department of the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) said yesterday that 700 additional elderly care home places will become available in the next two to three years.Choi Sio Un made the remarks while speaking to reporters yesterday after attending a closed-door meeting of the Taipa and Coloane Community Service Consultative Council, which was held at a community service centre run by the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) in Taipa.Choi Sio Un, who heads the

February 8, 2017 | BY admin

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Govt won’t resume live poultry sales until it’s safe: Chan

Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan Hoi Fan said yesterday that the government has not yet come up with a timetable to resume the sale of live poultry until it can confirm that the potentially fatal bird flu does not pose a threat to consumers. Asked by reporters, after a committee meeting at the legislature, when the ban on selling live poultry will end, Chan said the government needed to discuss the issue with the mainland authorities. “It depends on the result of the

February 8, 2017 | BY admin

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