Macau New Neighborhood to allow ‘VPN free’ Internet and foreign domestic workers

The Macau New Neighborhood in Hengqin will allow unrestricted access to the Internet without the need for a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

It will also allow local residents to keep or recruit new domestic workers irrespective of their nationality, the Chief Executive (CE), Ho Iat Seng, said yesterday at the Legislative Assembly (AL) where he was attending a Q&A session with the lawmakers on the Policy Address for next year (LAG24).

Replying to lawmaker Chan Chak Mou who was calling on the government to improve the living environment in Hengqin to encourage more residents to live there, the CE said the government has been working constantly to improve the new Macau neighborhood and to make it more attractive for locals.

The work includes unrestricted access to the Internet and the possibility of hiring domestic workers in the same way they are hired in Macau, Ho said.

Ho noted additional improvements on border crossings and accessibility are also planned to improve the life of the Macau residents who live across the border.

He said the idea is that residents feel that they have the same, or better, conditions than those they experience in Macau while having a “less stressed life” across the border, adding that these measures add to the existing access to health care, education, and elderly care.

According to figures cited by the CE, around 1,000 local residents are residing in Hengqin, and most are working in business incubator programs.

Lawmaker Chan, among others, had called for an increase in arborization and green spaces so residents have an added interest in moving to the area, fulfilling the central government’s goal of favoring a more intense regional integration.