IH received 9,600 public housing applications

The new round of applications for public housing ended on Wednesday and over the period the Housing Bureau (IH) received approximately 9,600 applications. About 5,200 applications for social housing are pending due to the lack of requested documents. The main missing documents include those related to income and net worth, documents proving the applicants’ monthly income, and supporting documents (on net assets) issued by banks. The applicants should deliver all the necessary documents before March 2. If they fail to submit the missing documents by March 2, their applications will be excluded from the selection.

Gov’t suggested subsidizing water heater changes

A member of the consultative council of the service community of the central district, Chan Kuai Son, has suggested that the government should subsidize expenses incurred by residents in changing their flueless gas water heaters to force type gas water heaters. Chan’s suggestion was reported by Macao Daily News. Recently, a Vietnamese woman died of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning while she was taking a shower, and a mainland non-local worker was also CO poisoned while taking shower. Importing flueless gas water heaters is banned. All current existing flueless gas water heaters were installed before the ban was enforced.

Illegal smoking decreased 20.4pct in January

A 20.4 percent decrease in the number of illegal smokers was recorded, in January, according to a statement released by the Health Bureau (SSM). From the total number, 471 (92.9 percent) were male and 36 (7.1 percent) were female. Some 323 (63.7 percent) were tourists, 166 (32.7 percent) were Macau residents and 18 (3.6 percent) were non-resident workers. In 11 cases, police assistance was needed, and officers were called. This is nine cases less, in comparison to the same period last year. During the same time frame, the Health Bureau and the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau conducted 71 tobacco-related inspections in casinos resulting in 146 offenses, of which 137 (93.8 percent) were male and nine (6.2 percent) were female. Around 131 (89.7 percent) were tourists and 15 (10.3 percent) were Macau residents.