AL Plenary | LRT company to be established this year

The first batch LRT trains arrived in Macau recently

The company which will manage the operations of the Macau Light Rapid Transit (LRT) will open for business this year, as announced during Friday’s Legislative Assembly plenary meeting.

“The schedule is slightly tight. […] We had originally planned to open this company last year. It must happen this year,” said the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário.

The secretary reiterated that the LRT will start running in 2019 and added that the aforementioned company will mainly manage the LRT’s Taipa section.

The company will also oversee all aspects of human resources, including recruitment and training.

When questioned by lawmakers, including Leong Sun Iok, about residents working for the LRT, Raimundo do Rosário noted that the number of local employees might be small when the LRT commences operations, but that more local employees will be employed in the long term.   

The Coordinator of the Transportation Infrastructure Office (GIT), Ho Cheong Kei, said, “29 local engineers have participated in the LRT program, with some of them having already entered executive level this year.”

He added that the government is considering a new line to connect the border gate to the Taipa Ferry Terminal.

“Macau indeed has a demand [for LRT services] from a large number of people. According to the suggestions offered by the consultation company, we will consider, in the short-term, a line connecting the border gate to the artificial island at Zone A and to the Taipa Ferry Terminal. We will do a survey research, and [the survey] will be carried out soon.”

During Friday’s debate, lawmaker Au Kam San said that he believes that the LRT Taipa line will become an “exclusive line for casinos.”

In response to these doubts, Raimundo do Rosário declared that “it was not me who invented that line. We consider that the next line of the LRT should be the one going to the border gate […] These lines have existed since the beginning.”

Another issue concerning the city’s public transportation network was that of the border gate bus terminal.

Lawmaker Agnes Lam asked why the government is still repairing the terminal despite claiming that the new transportation arrangement at the border gate is superior.

In response, the Director of the Transport Bureau (DSAT), Lam Hin San, said that once the border gate bus terminal is fully repaired, the authorities will not move all 24 of the bus lines back to the terminal. Some of them will be kept outside, in keeping with the current arrangement.

Lawmaker Pereira Coutinho asked the secretary whether he is considering buying insurance for public parking lots. Raimundo do Rosário gave a straight answer, saying, “I have no plan to buy insurance for [public] parking lots. We are not buying nor have we plans to buy. I suggested that the car owners themselves could buy insurance.”

Lam Hin San then remarked that “public parking lots are handled like public streets, according to the law. It is unnecessary for the government to buy the insurance, as the whole process is not related to the government. That insurance is very expensive.”

Chan says appointed officials can serve citizens

The Secretary for Justice and Administration, Sonia Chan, disagreed with opinions suggesting that indirectly elected members of non-governmental municipal organizations cannot serve the people.

During Friday’s AL, Sonia Chan was questioned by several lawmakers – including Ng Kuok Cheong, Au Kam San and Agnes Lam – about the selection process for members of the organization.

“If [members are chosen] by ‘one person, one vote’ [universal suffrage], then it [the organization] is not responsible for the government. It becomes a representative democratic organization, because it is responsible to the voters,” said Chan.

“There is another issue we need to make clear: the municipal organization established under the current conditions does not imply it will not listen to people’s opinions, nor does it imply it will operate on closed doors,” she added.

“When we choose the committee members, we hope they have experience in providing ground-level services.[…] We have done abundant work for our citizens, and we will enhance our work in this aspect […] it does not mean that members selected thorough other channels cannot serve the citizens,” continued Chan. 

Her answer was not well received by lawmakers such as Agnes Lam, who asked why the authorities do not listen to “different voices” when electing these committee members.

“The SAR government, from October 25 until November 23, during the public consultation period, received a total of 1,642 opinions.[…] Looking at the preliminary sort-out, the society’s consensus is that [Macau] should establish a non-governmental municipal organization according to the regulations of the Basic Law,” said Chan.

Other lawmakers, including Pereira Coutinho, questioned the accountability of principal officials.

Chan said, “Accountability is not about having [principal officials’] heads cut. The first step for accountability is to require improvements.”

“The current accountability [which the public wants] lies at the last level [which is] for example, asking them [principal officials] to resign and asking civil servants to leave their positions,” she concluded.