Forum urges clearer targets for Macau’s Third Five-Year Plan

A forum hosted by the Collective Wisdom Policy Center yesterday morning called on the government to establish clearer numerical targets and performance indicators for the city’s upcoming Third Five-Year Plan for Social and Economic Development (2026-2030), warning that vague benchmarks could hinder accountability and midterm reviews.

The discussion, which included lawmakers, focused on the government’s public consultation for the plan, with specific recommendations on economic diversification, linking industry with employment, elderly and childcare policies, and Hengqin-Macau cooperation.

Lawmaker Leong Hong Sai noted that the consultation document outlines 32 key indicators, but many lack specific numerical targets or ranges, which could complicate midterm policy reviews and departmental accountability.

Leong recommended prioritizing the establishment of specific indicators for economic diversification, clarifying government resource allocation, and expressed concerns over the overly conservative timelines for urban renewal and detailed planning.

He called for accelerated planning progress to provide clear guidelines on development density, floor area ratios, and height restrictions, offering direction for residents and businesses undertaking redevelopment and helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and residents share in development gains.

Overlap between planning documents

Lawmaker Ngan Iek Hang highlighted the significant temporal overlap between the plan and the Economic Diversification Plan (2024-2028). He suggested setting quantitative targets, such as non-gaming industries accounting for approximately 60% of GDP, to gradually adjust the tax structure.

He emphasized that industrial development must be closely tied to employment needs and that top-level design for AI development and the construction of computing centers should be planned.

He also advocated using tourism as the main axis to drive diversified industries, encouraging large enterprises to procure local products and services to support micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, thereby protecting local employment.

Demographic challenges

Tse Mei Ling noted that Macau’s elderly population has reached 15.3%, coupled with a low birth rate. She acknowledged the effectiveness of the past decade’s elderly service planning and called for accelerating the implementation of the next 10-year plan, using community resource integration and technological support to improve seniors’ quality of life.

Addressing the low birth rate, she suggested adding family tax deductions, improving educational support, extending maternity leave to 90 days in line with national standards, introducing parental leave and a child development fund, and encouraging family-friendly employment measures to address future social challenges.

Hengqin challenges for SMEs and youth

Tian Yi, director of the Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations’ (UGAMM) Guangdong office, pointed out that Macau’s SMEs and youth face both practical and psychological challenges when developing in Hengqin, often struggling to obtain subsidies due to annual policy adjustments and information mismatches.

He proposed a “one-on-one” secretarial service for Macau-invested enterprises to align policies and subsidy conditions in advance, as well as launching a short-term Hengqin youth creative experience program to reduce trial-and-error costs and provide training on taxation and the market environment.

He also called for increased promotion of success stories to inspire more young people to explore entrepreneurship and employment opportunities in the Cooperation Zone.