Briefs | Volleyball Grand Prix in July

FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix Macau 2017 will be held between July 14 and 16. The local pool pitches Olympic champion China against the United States of America (six times winner of the Grand Prix), Italy and Turkey. Yesterday, a sponsorship contract worth MOP4 million between the organizers (Sports Institute) and the Galaxy Entertainment Group was signed. Tickets for the matches will be put on sale today, at a price of MOP150 per day.

Incineration plant received less construction waste

The Macau Solid Waste Incineration Plant received 510,000 tones of solid waste in 2016, representing a smaller increase of 1.6 percent year-on-year. The Environment Protection Bureau (DSPA) replied to lawmaker Zheng Anting’s inquiry, stating that, last year, the landfill also received somewhere around 30 percent less construction waste compared to 2015. DSPA also stated that the government has already commenced plans to expand  the incineration plant, having already started the design of the plant. The department is also pushing forward plans to establish a central place to process kitchen waste.

Election committee received no reports about AL votes

The Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election (CAEAL), Tong Hio Fong, said that the commission did not receive any complaints or reports directly from litigants who claimed to have been pressured to vote for certain candidates. According to a report by Jornal Va Kio, CAEAL indeed received a letter, forwarded by a third party, about local teachers under pressure by their employer school to vote. Tong denied and said that he doubted the authenticity of the report.

Report says Zhang Dejiang will visit Macau

Zhang Dejiang, the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, is visiting Macau in May, according to a report by HK Server. The visit will reportedly take place in the beginning of May, and is also believed to be Zhang’s last visit to the two SARs before China’s 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Zhang previously visited Hong Kong last May. At the city’s Legislative Council, Hong Kong’s director of the Protocol Division Government Secretariat, Judy Li, recently said that Hong Kong spent HKD7.08 million in total to host top officials visiting Hong Kong,  more than HKD5 million of which was used during Zhang’s three-day visit to Hong Kong.

IPM organizes forum on responsible gambling

The Forum on Macau Integrated Tourism and Leisure Enterprises and Social Responsibility, organized by the Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM), was held yesterday at the Grand Lisboa Macau. The theme of the forum was “Promoting Responsible Gambling”. Organizations participating and presenting at the forum included the six gaming operators in Macau, the Macao Federation of Trade Unions and IPM. According to the organizers, the forum aimed to enhance Macau residents’ and visitors’ understanding and appreciation  of the integrated tourism and leisure enterprises’ contributions in promoting responsible gaming in the industry.

CAEAL to make more public spaces available for campaigning

The Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election (CAEAL) plans to make  24 outdoor public spaces available for the campaign teams of candidates to present their respective manifestos to the public. That is four more spaces than were available for such use during the 2013 Legislative Assembly Election process, the chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, Mr Tong Hio Fong, disclosed on Wednesday. The four new spaces are located in a variety of places, including the area close to the Olympic Sports Centre in Taipa, on the Seac Pai Van public housing estate, at the Northern District Public Services Centre in Areia Preta and at Macau Baptist College in Areia Preta. Tong additionally said the commission would install translucent curtains in voting booths, using the same design adopted in the 2013 election. The aim was to ensure privacy for voters during the act of voting, while also enabling polling station staff to monitor their activity well enough to prevent voters taking photographs or making video recordings inside the booths.