Directly-elected lawmaker-cum-unionist Ella Lei Cheng I, who chairs the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) 1st Standing Committee, said yesterday that the government would set up an entity based on the existing Public Assets Supervision and Planning Office (GPSAP) to oversee Macau’s public enterprises in a “unified” manner.
Lei made the remarks during a press briefing after yesterday’s closed-door meeting by the committee which is reviewing a government-initiated bill regulating the operation and supervision of the city’s public enterprises.
The bill aims to ensure that the public enterprises’ decision-making process will always be supervised by the government – which holds some or all of their shares – and also to assure the “rational” use of the public coffers, according to an earlier statement by the government on the reasons for drafting the bill.
According to the bill, the supervision authority would have seven powers, including protecting public funding interests in order to avoid undue loss of funds, requiring public enterprises to establish and improve their internal governance and monitoring systems and to set up binding norms and guidelines. The future authority would also have the power to obtain relevant documents and information on public enterprises through various measures.
The bill also proposes that the public enterprises and their subsidiaries must publish information on the remunerations of their board members appointed by the chief executive and on the performance of their business, in addition to continuing to publish information such as on their organisational structure and major procurement projects, as well as the continued release of annual reports.
Lei pointed out that this is proposed to make public enterprises’ information more open and transparent so that civil society can monitor them.
However, for public enterprises and their subsidiaries in which the government has only a small share can refer to the relevant provisions for information disclosure, and it is not mandatory for them to disclose additional information.
Lei also pointed out that the provisions on the operation of public enterprises, evaluation of their business performance and auditing do not apply either to public enterprises in which the government only has a minor share.
The bill is proposed to take effect 60 days after its promulgation in the Official Gazette, after it has been passed by lawmakers.
According to the GPSAP website, there are currently 23 publicly-funded companies in Macau. In 16 of the companies the government holds over 50 percent of the shares.
The committee will continue its revision of the bill after the summer recess, which lasts from tomorrow to October 17.
Lawmaker-cum-unionist Ella Lei Cheng I (left), who chairs the legislature’s 1st Standing Committee, talks to reporters after yesterday’s closed-door meeting reviewing the government’s public enterprises bill, as the committee’s secretary, Becky Song Pek Kei, looks on. – Photo: Ginnie Liang
