Ng Kuok Cheong urges gov’t to reveal details on regional cooperation

Lawmaker Ng Kuok Cheong believes that the Guangdong development fund for Guangdong-Macau cooperation is motivated more by political duties than by economic goals and the subsequent benefits it will bring to Macau, according to a report by All About Macau.
Earlier this week, more than 50 government officials from Guangdong province were present at the conference, which was held at the East Asian Games Dome, including Zhu Xiaodan, the Governor of Guangdong Province. Macau and Guangdong signed 12 cooperation framework agreements, including a memorandum on the aforementioned fund development.
The fund aims to invest in infrastructure projects in Guangdong, funded by both parties. On the question of how much money Macau will need to provide, no official amounts have been disclosed yet. However, according to a report by the Macao Daily News, the Macau government proposed last year to invest somewhere between 10 to 20 billion patacas in Guangdong’s livelihood and state-owned company projects.
Ng implied that the fund could be regarded as political payback from Macau to Guangdong, as Macau’s strong economy has been reaping the benefits of the free travelling policy issued by mainland.
“Why did the government not conduct a public consultation on this resolution? Because this is a policy duty, [we] can’t change anything [in it],” said Ng, who also posed the question that, once an investment company is established by the fund, how will the local government supervise it?
“Regarding the investment project, does Macau have a right to interfere?” Ng asked, adding “what kind of security will the Guangdong government provide [to Macau] in order to guarantee profits cover all the expenses?”
Ng also urged the government to reveal the details of the memorandum, which so far have not been revealed to the public.