The government may consider changing laws on social welfare eligibility to persuade more people to work and live in Hengqin, the Public Administration and Civil Services Bureau (SAFP) has disclosed.
Joana Maria Noronha, director of the SAFP, was replying to lawmaker Leong Sun Iok’s inquiry dated March 3.
Leong asked the government about recruiting Macau residents to work in civil services in the Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.
The Macau government has long strived to attract more people to relocate from Macau to Hengqin to “construct the Zone”, “merge into the Greater Bay Area (GBA)” and “adequately diversify Macau’s economy.”
On Leong’s questions, Noronha noted that “the government is aware of certain legal stipulations regarding social security policies that require Macau residents to stay for at least 183 days in Macau per year” to be benefitted by these policies.”
She said the government will “actively listen to suggestions and opinions from society, examine and analyze the stipulations, as well as study the necessity and feasibility of related law amendments.”
Her conclusion is that these steps will be conducted to “create advantageous conditions for Macau residents to conveniently study, work, start businesses and live in the Zone.”
Further discussing recruitment-related mechanisms, Noronha underlined that on March 3, the Zone’s Executive Committee issued a memo that listed the positions available, remuneration and prerequisites, as well as application procedures and vetting mechanisms.
In addition, the Macau government is entitled to assign local civil servants to work in the Executive Committee, to which it has recently made several appointments.
According to both Noronha and the government’s recent appointments, appointee civil servants will enjoy remuneration on par with their Macau counterparts, but follow schedules and holidays with the mainland.
In the recent appointments, civil servants were also offered relocation allowances. AL
