The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) has reported a case about low-quality replacements of street nameplates to the police as it is suspected to involve fraud by an outsourced company, after a member of the public found that the letters of some street nameplates had fallen off, and Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak said yesterday that the Judiciary Police (PJ) have launched an investigation into the incident, while the Municipal Affairs Bureau announced in a statement that it would replace all the problematic street nameplates in the fourth quarter of this year.
The incident was first revealed by a netizen who posted a photo on a social media platform on Thursday, suspecting that the street name and the pattern on the street nameplate in Rua dos Eucaliptos in Coloane was just a sticker pasted on to a white ceramic tile surface, instead of being made, as required by the bureau, by using the underglaze colour method on the ceramic, with the sticker on the ceramic tile yellowed and peeled off.
The Municipal Affairs Bureau stated later that day that IAM officials, during their inspections, had discovered a batch of newly-replaced street nameplates with quality problems, such as that the nameplates did not display underglaze colours in line with the bureau’s craftsmanship requirements, underlining that it had already reported the incident to the police as the outsourced company was suspected of being involved in fraud.
The statement did not name the company.
Addressing yesterday’s press conference about Macau’s 2024 first half-year crime statistics, Wong underlined, in response to media enquiries, that the police forces have received the report from the Municipal Affairs Bureau, while the Judiciary Police have launched an investigation into the case.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lou Kam Fai said during yesterday’s regular police press conference that the Judiciary Police received a report in an official letter from the Municipal Affairs Bureau on Friday, stating that a batch of newly-replaced street nameplates were found to have quality problems and were not in conformity with the officially required workmanship and, therefore, the outsourced company was suspected of being involved fraud. Lou added that the case has been handed over to a dedicated team for follow-up and that the results of the investigation would be announced to the public in due course.
The Municipal Affairs Bureau said in a statement yesterday that the bureau has taken temporary remedial measures to ensure the directional function of the city’s street nameplates that are peeling off, promising that “the problematic street nameplates will be replaced as soon as possible, and the work will be completed within the fourth quarter of this year”.
Observers have pointed out that Macau’s street nameplates are well known internationally and a part of Macau’s multicultural image.
The blue- and- white street nameplates display the names of the city’s streets, alleys and squares in both traditional Chinese characters and Portuguese.
This undated photo circulating on Facebook yesterday shows part of the peeled-off street nameplate in Estrada do Dique Oeste in Taipa.
