Coutinho says gov’t reviewing housing reserved for civil servants

Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan is said to have already submitted a report to the Chief Executive on a proposal to build housing specially for civil servants, according to lawmaker Pereira Coutinho.

On Friday, Secretary Chan met with the new management of the Macau Civil Servant’s Association, including Rita Santos, president of the association, and Coutinho, who stands on the Macau Civil Servant’s Association platform for election to the Legislative Assembly.

The association brought 13 proposals to Chan concerning civil servants’ welfare.

According to Coutinho, the most updated information provided by Chan relates to housing for civil servants.

“The Secretary said she had already submitted a report to the Chief Executive regarding reserve lands where civil servants’ housing will be built,” said Coutinho. “We hope that the Chief Executive can make a decision within his term.”

In 2012 and 2015, the local government opened applications for local civil servants regarding 160 and 110 civil servant housing units, respectively. However, only civil servants with fixed-term contracts were eligible to apply for the houses. Those on nonfixed-term contracts were excluded.

“There are currently over 40,000 civil servants, together with their family members,” said Coutinho.

Civil servants belonging to the security force should be given priority for housing services, according to Coutinho.

The association’s representative also discussed with Chan topics including the possibility of increasing salary points for both doctors and nurses, on-the-job supervision, and grass-root level civil servants, including drivers.

The association further suggested that Chan amend regulations to maintain salary points for retired civil servants as well as granting retired civil servants housing compensation.

According to Coutinho, Chan informed them that she will consider these suggestions and undertake a further evaluation of relevant matters.

In addition, the group questioned Chan about the reasons for the government to be hiring non-local workers.

“We have received complaints from Macau’s translators, who felt that the situation is unfair. We hope for greater transparency in recruiting. [The government] must advertise in newspapers to see if there are Macau residents interested in the job, therefore giving opportunities to Macau people,” said Coutinho.

The association proposed to Chan that the University of Macau and the Macau Polytechnic Institute should provide more translation degrees, and that the government should work with universities to provide internship opportunities to local students so that governmental departments can avoid hiring non-local translators.