The estimated amount of greenhouse gas emissions in Macau decreased slightly in 2021, according to a report issued over the weekend by the Environmental Protection Bureau. The emissions last year mainly came from land transport, power generation, businesses, households, the service industry as well as waste incineration, the report said, noting that the local emissions in the past decade showed a downward trend. In 2021, six monitoring stations in the city recorded 93% of the days as having “Good” or “Normal” air quality, about the same as in 2020. Due to the recovery of social and economic activities, the average concentrations of pollutants except fine suspended particulates (PM2.5) showed growth in 2021. Water and electricity consumption as well as urban solid waste volumes also rose last year.
Emperor reports losses between HKD550M and HKD750M
The Emperor Entertainment Hotel Limited (Emperor), the company operating the satellite casino of the Grand Emperor Hotel, has reported that it expects losses ranging between HKD550 million and HKD750 million for the fiscal year ending March 31. The result means that the company’s losses have doubled or possibly even tripled from the previous year when the company reported a net loss of HKD224 million. In a filing late last week to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, Emperor said that the widening of the losses is related to the cessation of the casino operations which is also reflected in the value of the property.
E-driving license in One Account from mid-October
From October 15, an electronic version of the Macau driving license will also be available through the Macao One Account (a government electronic platform). This was announced by the president of the First Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly, lawmaker Ella Lei. The bill, which will be finally voted on this week at an already scheduled plenary session, is proposed to come into force from October 15, when drivers will also be able to present the electronic version of their driving licenses, when requested by police. This is one effort towards what has been called the “electronization of the government” with the provision of several services to citizens through an online mobile application platform.