AL Plenary | Ng makes his case against mutual recognition of driving licenses

Au Kam San (left) and Ng Kuok Cheong

The topic of mutual recognition of driving licenses between Macau and mainland China was brought up once more in the Legislative Assembly (AL) plenary session held yesterday. The debate was called on the initiative of lawmaker Ng Kuok Cheong, who fiercely opposes the proposed scheme.

Ng said the population is concerned over the issue, given the anticipated problems that might occur with more cars circulating and being driven by tourists, as well as the possibility of illegal work being performed under such a scheme. Ng added that the realities of the mainland and Macau are very different, saying, “While a few Macau residents being able to drive in China would not make much difference, the opposite is not true, as the traffic of Macau is already chaotic.”

The lawmaker called on the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, to “explain to the Chief Executive” that there is a need to better negotiate the terms of such a measure for the region.

The Secretary responded, noting he had already replied to lawmakers on at least 10 different occasions on this topic (nine of which were spoken enquiries) as well as responding to questions during this year’s policy address.

Rosário said it is “strange” that lawmakers are calling for a public consultation on this topic, recalling that “Macau already recognizes driving licenses from 110 different countries and China is just one more.”

“We all want less vehicles and we know that we have problems with our traffic, we are doing our best to try to improve on this matter,” Rosário reaffirmed.

Following the Secretary’s reply, Ng noted that the fact that the secretary was forced to reply so many times on the topic is precisely due to the fact the issue has not reached a social consensus. “The aim of the public consultation is not to ask if [this] can or cannot be done, but instead, to try to establish some rules and procedures for this to happen,” Ng said. He also noted that the government continues to say that the recognition is not expected to affect many people. “We know that if there is demand, for sure the [rent-a-car] companies will acquire more vehicles.”

Lawmaker Sulu Sou also addressed the topic, saying that he had a bad impression of how the process was managed. “Looks like we don’t like our country and [the fact] that the government needs to impose this,” he said, recalling a study conducted by the University of Macau on the matter and, like Ng, calling for the government to “tell the central [government] about our concerns.”

Au Kam San also agreed, calling for a public hearing on the case and remarking, “110 countries, but from those how many citizens live [in] or visit Macau? It’s not possible to compare.”

On the other hand, lawmaker Ip Sio Kai stated that the recognition process would “ease the lives of those living, working and studying in Macau,” as well as “help Macau people drive in China.”

“[The recognition of the driving licenses] only brings benefits to the Macau population,” Ip said, hoping that this could be a reality as soon as possible.

Remarking on his position, Ip also recalled that one of the regions with which Macau agreed to mutually recognize the driving licenses of long ago was Hong Kong, and still, “I’m not seeing many people [tourists from HK] coming here to drive.”

Ella Lei was another lawmaker who expressed concern, especially regarding potential “illegal workers,” calling on the government to enforce measures to “prevent illegal work [coming] from this measure” as a way to “rest the minds of the population.”

In response to the concerns, a representative from the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) said, “We are reinforcing the work on this matter. We also do not authorize the import of this kind of service [drivers].” The representative also noted that all cases found by Police must be reported to the DSAL.

Regarding non-resident workers, the same representative added, “If that happens we can ascribe their responsibility or blame the employer for this,” citing figures from 2017, when 154 cases occurred in Macau, in which a total of 10 non-residents were involved. According to the representative, four employers were fined and nine had their authorization to import labor revoked for six months.

According to the director of the Transport Bureau, Lam Hin San, there are already around 2,500 mainland residents who can drive legally in Macau too, due to the fact that their driving licenses are already recognized in the neighboring region of Hong Kong.

Bridge impact on traffic still unknown

The traffic arrangements ahead of the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau (HKZM) Bridge, especially concerning the connections between the artificial island and the roundabout of the Pérola Oriental in the Areia Preta area, have alarmed several lawmakers, namely Kou Hoi In, Ip Sio Kai and Agnes Lam who questioned the government on the issue.

From the government side, the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, recognized that Macau “has a problem.”

“Macau has narrow streets, lots of traffic, lots of people and few space available,” he said, noting that many of the lawmakers’ questions regarding a time frame for the implementation of new transport structures – such as the Light Rail Transit (LRT) or the fourth link connecting the peninsula and Taipa – couldn’t be answered.

“It’s not that I don’t want to reply, it’s that I can’t reply as I don’t have an answer,” he said, adding that he was expecting the planning works for the fourth Macau-Taipa link could be done in just two years. However, “only the procedures have been done until now, and already it has been two and half years,” he said, pointing out bureaucracy issues with the central government as a cause of the delays.

“I didn’t know that we had to ask authorization from the central government for every single thing,” he said.

As for the connections to the HKZM Bridge, the director of the Land, Public works and Transport Bureau, Li Canfeng, explained that there would be three connections in total.

“We have three proposed links; one that is already done [and will enter into use first] and then there will be two more, one in the north and another in the south,” Li said, adding that between the Peninsula and Zone A of the new landfills there will be a total of five connections. Another of the links will be via an underwater tunnel that will connect Zone A and B of the landfills.

“At the moment we are holding three studies for the conception of this,” he said. “We hope we can start as soon as possible.”

As for the traffic in the area of the roundabout, the director of the Transport Bureau (DSAT), Lam Hin San, claims to have studies that found “for now the number of vehicles will be about 3,000 per hour on the roundabout. [However,] this number is expected to rise to around 3,700 per hour in the next couple of years.”

In order to ease traffic in the area, especially in emergency situations, Lam said that the DSAT will be building an emergency corridor at the Avenida Norte do Hipodromo.