Insight | Get some work done

Paulo Barbosa

1. Next month’s administrative revamp comes late, but it’s better late than never. The Times recently described a case where the management of a public infrastructure project shifted several times in three years, causing delays and losses to private investors. During his Policy Address presentation, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture announced plans to transform the lakeside precinct that faces the government headquarters into an entertainment area, with cafés and outdoor areas that are so lacking in Macau.
In 2012, six bars were operating there (eight had previously closed) and paying rent to the Finance Services Bureau (DSF). The department decided to evict all the bars (mostly tasteless karaoke venues, one must say), despite the owners appeals. Previously, the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) took over management on June 1, and those bar owners complained of being “kicked around like a football” between DSF and IACM.
This Nam Van saga continued when Raymond Tam – who was the head of IACM before the controversial case regarding permanent graves in the cemetery of S. Miguel Arcanjo – stated that the place was “designed to be a cultural and leisure district that will consist of an open theater, drama stage, café and the largest center in the city for book and magazine retailers.”
But almost nothing happened there during the next three years, except for the renovation works recently concluded by the IACM, before the area changed hands again – this time to be managed by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC). “The transfer of infrastructure management to the IC is scheduled. The use to be given to them and the opening date will be announced by the receiving service [IC],” the IACM replied to the Times last month in a bureaucratic fashion.
The lesson to be learnt here is that the constant shift of departments brings losses and inefficiency costs. The fact that, for many years, IACM was responsible for facilities like the Arts Museum, the Handover Gifts Museum and the Cultural Center, among others, reveals a lack of logic.
With the revamp announced on Friday by the Executive Council (see page 2), certain areas in the fields of culture, recreation and sports that are currently managed by IACM will be transferred to IC and the Sport Development Board in a redistribution that would make sense. However, inconsistences persist. For example, questions remain over whether or not IC is the most suitable institution to manage the Nam Van outdoor area.

2. Hands up for the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, who went to the Legislative Assembly last week with a pragmatic speech.
During the presentation of the Policy Address for the areas that he supervises, the secretary said that old habits must die: “We do not have the habit of planning. It’s true! But I think there is time to start and to experiment.”
Mr Rosário has perhaps the most difficult task in the government, which is to give order to the flawed infrastructure development plan.
“We are creating a new culture – slowly, but we will,” he added. Let’s hope that the secretary, who is an engineer with managerial skills, will be able to use those skills to improve the local transport and infrastructure situation. What he said indicates that he is committed to solving some of the issues (although obviously, as he noted, he can’t solve everything) that plague the region. This time I’m optimistic. I believe that he’ll get some work done if he is allowed to do his job.