The government has appointed Lai Weng Leong, who is currently a deputy director of the Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT), as the bureau’s director effective tomorrow, when the bureau will be restructured and renamed Lands and Urban Construction Bureau (DSSCU).
The government has also reappointed Lam Wai Hou, who is currently the director of the Infrastructure Development Office (GDI), as the director of the entity which will be upgraded to a bureau-level permanent entity tomorrow, when it will be renamed Public Works Bureau (DSOP).
The appointments were announced in the Official Gazette (BO) yesterday.
The Infrastructure Development Office was set up in 2000 as a “project team” tasked with planning and supervising large-scale infrastructure projects, such as land reclamation, bridges, flyovers, tunnels, checkpoints, ferry terminals, public housing, health facilities, and various other government buildings.
Since the then Transport Infrastructure Office (GIT) was abolished in 2019, the government’s task of supervising the construction of Light Rail Transit (LRT) projects has also been carried out by the Infrastructure Development Office.
In addition to its current functions of urban planning, land management, and the supervision of private projects, the Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau is currently also tasked with planning and supervising certain public projects, normally smaller-scale ones, such as footbridges, roads, sewerage systems, and the renovation of government buildings.
The Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau was set up in the early 1990s, when Macau was still under Portuguese administration.
The government said last week that after the current Infrastructure Development Office has been upgraded to a bureau, which will take effect tomorrow when it will be renamed Public Works Bureau, it will be tasked with planning and supervising all government projects.
The government said last week that after the current Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau has been restructured, which will also take effect tomorrow when it will be renamed Lands and Urban Construction Bureau, it will no longer be responsible for any public sector projects, while it will keep all its other functions, namely urban planning, land management, and the supervision of private sector projects. In addition, the new Lands and Urban Construction Bureau will have an additional unit tasked with supervising the city’s electrical and mechanical projects and facilities.
The government also said last week that it had decided to restructure both the Infrastructure Development Office, and the Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau with the aim of making the government’s division of labour more reasonable.
CVs
The post of director of the current Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau has been vacant since the middle of January when the then director Chan Pou Ha retired. Since then, Wong Chiu Man, the other deputy director of the bureau, has been the bureau’s acting director. The bureau has two deputy directors in its organisational structure.
According to an executive order published in the Official Gazette yesterday, Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário has appointed Lai as the director of the new Lands and Urban Construction Bureau for a one-year term effective from April 1. Rosário signed the executive order on Monday.
According to Rosário’s executive order, Lai, who holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, joined the public administration in 1995 when he started to work for the Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau. Lai had headed the bureau’s Urbanisation Department since April 2016, before becoming a deputy director of the bureau in January 2020.
In addition, Rosário has also appointed Mak Tat Io as a deputy director of the Lands and Urban Construction Bureau for a one-year term effective from April 1. Mak has headed the Urban Planning Department of the current Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau since July 2019.
Consequently, the two deputy directors of the new Lands and Urban Construction Bureau from tomorrow will be Wong and Mak.
According to another executive order published in the Official Gazette yesterday, Rosário has appointed Lam as the director of the new Public Works Bureau for a one-year term effective from April 1. Rosário signed the executive order on Monday.
According to Rosário’s executive order, Lam holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a master’s degree in Structural Engineering from Huaqiao University in Quanzhou, Fujian province.
Lam started working for the Infrastructure Development Office in 2005. He has headed the office since February 2019.
In addition, Rosário has also reappointed the current two deputy directors of the Infrastructure Development Office, Sam Weng Chon and Luís Manuel Silva Madeira de Carvalho, for its upgraded Public Works Bureau.
Portuguese and Chinese names
The two restructured public entities will be called Lands and Urban Construction Bureau (DSSCU) and Public Works Bureau (DSOP) based on their respective Portuguese names, Direcção dos Serviços de Solos e Construção Urbana, and Direcção dos Serviços de Obras Públicas. If literally translated from their respective Chinese names, they will be called Lands and Public Works Bureau, and Public Infrastructure Bureau.
In the restructuring of the two public entities, the current DSSOPT Public Buildings Department and Infrastructures Department will move to the new Public Works Bureau. In addition to the two departments, the new Public Works Bureau will also have a Research and Design Department. Consequently, the new bureau will have three departments.
The new Lands and Urban Construction Bureau will have six departments, a change from the seven departments of the current Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau.
The current DSSOPT Urban Planning Department, Land Management Department, Urbanisation Department, Legal Department, and Administration Department will be kept in the new Lands and Urban Construction Bureau. In addition, the restructured bureau will have a new Electrical and Mechanical Facilities Department.
Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon (centre), Infrastructure Development Office (GDI) Director Lam Wai Hou (left), and Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) Deputy Director Lai Weng Leong address a press conference at Government Headquarters on Friday about the restructuring of the two public entities, which will take effect tomorrow.
Photo courtesy of TDM
