The Sports Bureau (ID) said that two of its public swimming pools – the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Swimming Pool on the peninsula and Cheoc Van Swimming Pool in Coloane – would be temporarily closed as its service provider couldn’t provide enough lifeguards, the bureau said in a statement on Friday.
According to the statement, the two outdoor swimming pools were closed on Saturday until further notice. The bureau asked for “understanding” from the public for the inconvenience caused.
According to a report by government-owned broadcaster TDM yesterday, the Sports Bureau noted that the “lifeguard shortage” was due to an employment dispute between the service provider and its lifeguards, adding that the bureau was “coordinating” with the contractor and aiming to reopen the two pools as soon as possible.
According to a notice published in the Official Gazette (BO) in 2015, the government outsourced the lifeguard service of the Sports Bureau’s swimming pools to a company named Surf Hong. The contract amounts to over 39 million patacas, including 19 million patacas in 2016, and 15 million patacas last year.
