IAM to downsize, transfer competences on road works to DSOP

The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) is set to downsize the number of workers and its scope of action, transferring the competency for constructing and maintaining roads and streets to the Public Works Bureau (DSOP).

The bill proposing these changes passed on its first reading yesterday at the Legislative Assembly (AL) unanimously, with all 32 votes in favor.

According to the document, the transfer of duties will be implemented on June 1 next year.

The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Wong Sio Chak, noted yesterday at the AL during the bill presentation that with the transfer of duties, there will also be a transfer of workers responsible for such tasks.

Wong noted that the IAM has already been targeted with an ongoing restructure, reducing the number of workers from 2,700 to 2,200.

The Secretary said that this functional transfer and restructuring aim to solve the problem of overlapping duties between different government departments.

He added that after this change, the IAM will be able to focus more and execute its duties better in seven major functional areas.

The change will also reduce the number of departments and offices to eight and 19, respectively.

In the revamp, the IAM will also see a reduction of vice president roles to one and committee members to three.

The total number of workers to be transferred to the DSOP is said to be around 150.

In response to lawmakers’ inquiries, Wong remarked that all workers will have their contracts amended according to the change, noting that most are employees with individual working contracts. Only 60 permanent IAM employees will be affected, with Wong claiming that they have already been informed of the situataion and new conditions.

With this restructuring, the IAM will also lose the competencies to name streets, assign door numbers, and repair and maintain drainage networks, all tasks that will be transferred to the DSOP.

In the debate, lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho expressed support for the restructure but reminded the Secretary that this is perhaps the right time to ensure that overlaps with other departments are effectively resolved, particularly between the competencies of IAM and the Cultural Affairs Bureau.

The bill now moves to the Standing Committee for detailed analysis before being voted on and finally approved in plenary.