The Synergy Macau Association think tank said in a statement yesterday that it has urged the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) to monitor the Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau’s (DSSOPT) lift inspections.
According to the statement, the CCAC replied to the association that while the bureau’s lift inspections did not involve any “maladministration” there was “room for improvement”.
However, according to the statement, between 2012 and 2018 over 1,700 lift accidents were recorded and more than 2,400 people needed to be rescued from malfunctioning lifts. The statement added that this was equivalent to more than one person per day trapped in a lift.
The statement also pointed out that in his 2021 Policy Address, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said that he intended that the government draft a bill on lift safety but added there was no concrete timeline on when the bill would be submitted to the Legislative Assembly (AL).
The association also alleged that the bureau only checks lifts that are in government buildings, schools, public facilities, some hotels, and public housing estates but that it never checks lifts in commercial and private residential buildings. The statement added that since 2013, around 60 percent of malfunctioning lift accidents occurred in lifts that had not been checked by the bureau.
The association urged the CCAC to investigate the bureau’s lift inspections again and ensure that the investigation results are more transparent than before so that residents would know what the situation was.
