Municipal Affairs Bureau launched with new service

The new Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) was officially established on January 1, accompanied by the launch of an online platform which allows the public to more quickly express their opinions to the bureau regarding environment and hygiene, garden and recreational zones, facilities, and food safety.

The inauguration ceremony of the new leadership of IAM was conducted on Tuesday morning. The president of the previous Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM), José Tavares, and vice-president Lei Wai Nong, among others, took their oaths to serve and support the new bureau.

Also on Tuesday morning, the bureau’s advisory council held a meeting where it chose the president and vice president of the council itself.

António José Dias Azedo and Chong Cok Veng were elected as chairman and vice-chairman of the council.

IAM provides residents with cultural and leisure services, as well as services related to environment and hygiene.

Regarding the aforementioned online platform, IAM president José Tavares said that it is being managed by more than ten IAM employees, and that the platform itself is able to receive a total of 6,000 cases per hour.

After IAM collects the residents’ opinions, the bureau will reply to each resident within 24 hours when the questions involve such topics as hygiene or food safety issues.

“Hopefully, we can use three to seven days to solve the problems [raised by the residents],” said José Tavares, who added that the bureau will inform concerned residents of a deadline if the bureau cannot solve their problems within seven working days.

The platform is available in Chinese, Portuguese, and English languages. Users can express their opinions and offer suggestions in the form of text, audio messages or pictures. 

In addition to implementing the above service, the management of the new bureau also pledged to simplify the process for residents that require a service at the service centers under the administration of IAM.

Previously, these residents would have to visit different counters at the IACM office for different services.

In order to provide convenience and also to shorten service times for residents, all IAM services can now be conducted at just one counter at IAM service centers.