Gov’t to stop granting subsidies to Sin Fong Garden owners

View of the Sin Fong residents’ camp in 2014

The government will put an end to the granting of subsidies to Sin Fong Garden proprietors within the year, the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) has revealed. The Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, yesterday announced he will be meeting with the building owners today.
According to a TDM report, the Social Welfare Bureau’s president Iong Kong Io yesterday hinted that the government will stop providing subsidies – which have amounted to MOP20 million – to the Sin Fong Garden owners. The authority is also discussing with its legal advisers how to claim the expenses. But since no one has been held accountable for the building’s structural problems, the government does not know from whom it should claim back the money.
Meanwhile, a group of Sin Fong Garden proprietors have been accused of aggravated disobedience by the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) over last year’s protest and clash with authorities. The apartment owners now accuse the government of breaking its promise not to prosecute them over the demonstration, that included a camping outside the building.
The Secretary for Transport and Public Works said he was unaware of such a promise and he cannot ensure they will not be prosecuted. “There are three powers in Macau: executive, judiciary and legislative. These are all independent from each other. I haven’t discussed this issue with judiciary authorities. I cannot interfere,” he reiterated.
Furthermore, the Secretary recalled that this is a matter that should be solved among the Sin Fong Garden building owners. “The government doesn’t own the property. If this was a government asset, we would solve the issue. But it’s a private building and there are proprietors, and they should solve it. The only thing the government should do is – to my understanding – to try our best to [help them] reach a consensus,” the secretary acknowledged.
More than a hundred residents gathered last month in front of the troubled structure to call for government intervention again. The chairman of the building’s management committee recalled that only its reconstruction could fulfill the owners’ hopes. However, proprietors have not yet reached a consensus on what type of reconstruction they’d prefer.
Almost three years ago, Sin Fong Garden residents started noticing cracks in the walls of the 30-storey edifice located in Patane. Structural problems led authorities to think the building was at risk of collapsing, prompting the evacuation of 141 resident families in 2012. CP