A community canteen for senior citizens opened on Friday in the Macau New Neighbourhood (MNN) residential estate on Zhuhai’s Hengqin island, the Livelihood Affairs Bureau of the Guangdong-Macau In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin has announced.
A statement by the bureau on Saturday said that the elderly canteen in the MNN neighbourhood is the sixth of its kind in Hengqin.
Elderly canteens across the mainland are welfare canteens dedicated to providing affordable and nutritious meals to senior citizens.
Normally, people of other ages can also eat at elderly canteens across the mainland but are required to pay the full price, while seniors are offered discounted prices.
According to Saturday’s statement, the newly opened elderly canteen is located in the MNN neighbourhood’s elderly service centre.
The statement said that a lunch there for senior citizens costs as little as three yuan (3.30 patacas).
In addition to shops, restaurants and other commercial outlets, the MNN neighbourhood also includes community facilities comprising a school, a health station, a family and community service centre, and a service centre for senior citizens.
The MNN neighbourhood’s health station, which opened in November last year, is run by the Macau Health Bureau (SSM).
Both the family and community service centre and the elderly service centre in the MNN neighbourhood started operating last year, run by the Macau Women’s General Association (known as Fu Luen in Cantonese) and the Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations (known as Kai Fong in Cantonese) respectively.
Saturday’s statement noted that while the new canteen in the MNN elderly service centre has been launched by the Livelihood Affairs Bureau, it is operated by Kai Fong’s Guangdong branch office.
The statement also noted that the MNN elderly service centre’s operation is subsidised by the Macau Social Welfare Bureau (IAS).
According to the statement, the new canteen started operating at 12 p.m. on Friday.
This handout photo released by Hengqin’s Livelihood Affairs Bureau on Saturday shows senior citizens having their lunch in the MNN neighbourhood’s newly opened canteen on Friday.
