Forum questions city’s tourism carrying capacity

Macau Forum guest speakers and audience members raised concerns yesterday about the city’ tourism carrying-capacity if the number of visitor arrivals in 2025 reaches 40 million as forecast by the draft of the “Macau Tourism Development Master Plan”.The forum is a weekly public debate programme run by government-owned broadcaster TDM. About a dozen audience members attended yesterday’s forum about the draft master plan released by the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) last week.The

May 30, 2016 | BY admin

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7 of 9 lawmakers back casino smoking lounges: committee chief

Seven of the nine lawmakers who attended a committee meeting of the legislature yesterday supported the continuation of smoking lounges in casinos, provided that the lounges met the government’s safety standards, lawmaker-cum-restaurateur Andrew Chan Chak Mo said yesterday.The legislature’s 2nd Standing Committee resumed reviewing a government-initiated tobacco control and prevention amendment bill yesterday. The meeting was closed to the media, as is customary. Chan, who chairs the

May 27, 2016 | BY admin

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Crimes, traffic accidents drop in Jan-April: police

Senior Public Security Police (PSP) officer Lam Keong said yesterday that the number of crimes and traffic accidents recorded in the first four months of the year dropped 1.9 percent and two percent year-on-year, respectively.Lam also said the police would continue its liaison work with the city’s various civic associations on crime prevention and the promotion of public awareness on traffic safety.Lam made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting with staff members of a residents’ service

May 27, 2016 | BY admin

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Lawmaker calls for crèche subsidy for low-income families

Lawmaker-cum-businessman Chan Meng Kam is urging the government to set up a subsidy for low-income families so that they can afford to send their children to a crèche.Chan made the suggestion in a written interpellation submitted to the government. His office sent copies of the letter to the media yesterday.According to Chan, there are 49 crèches in Macau, with 33 of them receiving permanent funding from the government, and 37 being non-profit entities. Please read the full article in

May 27, 2016 | BY admin

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Lawmaker urges govt to speed up HOS deals

The government should speed up its “sluggish” process of preparing purchase agreements for home-ownership scheme (HOS) flat buyers to sign, legislator-cum-community leader Si Ka Lon says in a written interpellation released to the media yesterday.The lawmaker says in his interpellation, which has been submitted to the government, that many HOS flat buyers told him that they had been living in their flats for a long time but were still waiting to sign their purchase agreements with the

May 27, 2016 | BY admin

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Regulator expects CTM’s ‘concession assets’ deal to be renewed

Telecom operator CTM’s agreement with the government about the company’s management of Macau’s telecom “concession assets” will be automatically renewed later this year as stipulated in the contract, if the company does not violate the deal, Telecommunications Regulation Bureau (DSRT) Acting Director Tam Van Iu said yesterday. She made the remarks on the sidelines of a seminar hosted by Hutchison Telephone (Macau) Company Ltd. at the Macau Science Centre. The government

May 27, 2016 | BY admin

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Doorman says was barred from leaving post during meal breaks

Zhang Yifen, a doorman whose contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of the month, said yesterday he had filed a complaint with the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) about his superior who had ordered him not to leave his post during his daily two-hour meal breaks and that he was not paid for the two hours.With the assistance of staff members of grassroots lawmakers Antonio Ng Kuok Cheong and Au Kam San Zhang held a press conference at their joint office in Iao Hon.Zhang is a

May 27, 2016 | BY admin

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Year’s first typhoon signal hoisted at 10 p.m.

The Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) hoisted this year’s first No. 1 typhoon signal last night.The signal was hoisted as a tropical depression was formed 310 kilometres south of the city at around midnight. It was heading north-northwest at about 20 kilometres per hour.According to the bureau’s website, based on the current trajectory of the storm, the bureau expects that the tropical depression will bring occasional downpours to the city today.This image taken from the

May 27, 2016 | BY admin

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Macau, mainland customs discuss ‘One Belt, One Road’

Macau Customs Service Director-General Alex Vong Iao Lek discussed various issues including the central government’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR) initiative with General Administration of Customs Minister Yu Guangzhou yesterday during the two authorities’ annual meeting.The meeting took place at the local customs’ headquarters.President Xi Jinping’s initiative consists of two international trade connections – the land-based ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’ and oceangoing ‘Maritime

May 27, 2016 | BY admin

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New club aims to promote culture and creativity

A group of lads that have recently graduated from universities both locally and in the UK have formed a kind of co-operative which they have called Along Cultural and Creative Club to help young people who want to get into the cultural and creative industries.MPD Weekender recently spoke to the club’s founder Nigel Choi Chi Chon in a coffee shop in a local casino hotel about his vision and the reason behind Along. Choi explained in a telephone conversation with MPD Weekender last night

May 27, 2016 | BY admin

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WHO chief backs disease centre plan: govt

World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun said in Geneva on Tuesday that she “quite understands and supports” the local government’s plan to build an infectious disease centre, according to a statement by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chon Weng’s office yesterday.The WHO chief met a Macau delegation led by Tam during the ongoing six-day World Health Assembly (WHA) in the Swiss city’s Palace of Nations, the statement

May 26, 2016 | BY admin

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Cops bust duo for stealing HK$135,000 at casino

The police arrested two mainlanders for stealing a total of HK$135,000 at a casino in the city centre earlier this month, a Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson said yesterday.The case was announced during a special press briefing.The spokesperson said a mainland woman went to the police on May 7 to report that she withdrew HK$300,000 from her debit card at a shop in Zape earlier that day, after which she divided the cash into three rolls of HK$100,000 each, tied each one up and handed them to

May 26, 2016 | BY admin

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Scholar urges Macau to promote decent work concept

Beijing-based China Institute of Industrial Relations Associate Professor Chen Jianfeng said yesterday there should be channels in place in Macau for employees to improve their working conditions and to be able to be engaged in decent work.The institute comes under All-China Federation of Trade Unions.According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), decent work involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection

May 26, 2016 | BY admin

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Govt vows to urge more legal persons to join indirect elections

Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP) Director Kou Peng Kuan said yesterday that in an attempt to improve the competitiveness of the legislature’s indirect elections the government would study how to encourage more legal persons to take part in the indirect election process.In jurisprudence, a natural person is a human being, as opposed to a legal person, which may be a private – such as a company or a non-governmental organisation (NGO) – or a public organisation.Kou made

May 26, 2016 | BY admin

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