Briefs | Pansy Ho part of TV consortium

A company led by the son of Deacon Chiu, the late former ATV chairman, has applied for a free-to-air TV license, in a bid to form a completely new broadcaster. Forever Top has major shareholders that include David Chiu and Pansy Ho, the daughter of Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho. The company has said in a statement that it filed documents to the Communications Authority last week, and plans to invest HKD3.2 billion in the next six years to form a television station that the company hopes will become a global broadcaster. The authority responded by saying that it had received the application and will process it accordingly.

Fung Ping Kuen replaces Rosário

Fung Ping Kuen, who was previously serving as sub-coordinator of the Macau Polytechnic Institute’s Centre of Sino-Western Cultural Studies, has been appointed to be the new head of Macau’s Economic and Trade Delegation to the World Trade Organization in Geneva. He replaces Raimundo do Rosário, who is now serving as Secretary for Transport and Public Works. Mr Fung earned a bachelor in social sciences from the University of East Asia (now University of Macau) and holds a masters in Economic and Business Science. He served as president of the Social Security Fund’s board of directors between 1999 and 2010. He was also part of the Macau Pension Fund’s board of directors from 2003 to 2010.

Gov’t recovers idle land

The government has recovered an idle land plot for residential use for the first time. The plot, in an area of over 7,300 square meters located in the Estrada Lou Lim Leok in Taipa, was leased to a developer for the purpose of building standalone villas. According to the Official Gazette, the developer failed to make use of the land within the contractual period, thus the grant of land was declared invalid. Furthermore, the government announced a recovery of a 930 square meter industrial land plot, located in the Ilha Verde.

Building in Patane to be rebuilt

A building in the Rua da Ribeira do Patane will be rebuilt into a two-star guesthouse. The new guesthouse is planned to be seven stories high with a two-story basement, in a building area of 1,111 square meters. DSSOPT approved the change of use of the 112-sqaure-meter land plot, and declared that the recovery of 8 square meters from the site would constitute part of the public street, according to the new street alignment.