Policy Address – Raimundo do Rosário | Public transportation and waste separation heavily discussed

The major concern raised by lawmakers yesterday was over the city’s problematic transportation system. The inefficiencies of the system have been evident in traffic jams, traffic accidents and the fleets of tourist buses.

Yesterday, during the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) plenary meeting debates on the government’s 2016 policy, the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, together with directors from the bureaus under his administration, answered the questions posed by lawmakers.

Lam Heong Sang pointed out that for the last 10 months, Macau’s public transportation has been expanding seriously, with Macau’s buses transporting a total of approximately 600,000 passengers during some days.

Lam suggested that Raimundo should change Macau into a “walking city”, dividing the city into different regions where only sidewalks exist, and work to connect all these regions together. By doing so, he stated that “the transportation might be better.”

Chan Hong also reminded the secretary that transportation has already become the top issue concerned by the city’s young generations. In addition, Chan questioned the government as to whether it is considering adding more bus routes, more bus lines during rush hours or double-decker buses and whether they are thinking about introducing an electrical bicycle system to the city.

Raimundo, in reply to Lam, said “I trust it [the walking system], and I am confident in it, but it needs time.” The secretary claims that a good public transportation must have a good walking system.

However, Raimundo admitted that he does not have a schedule ready for the lawmakers which concerns this plan. “We need to wait longer, […] but that does not mean we will not do it,” assured Raimundo.

The Secretary noted that this year, the increase in the number of cars will be at most 0.8 percent. “This year is the first time that the increase in the number of cars is less than one percent,” informed Raimundo.

Raimundo also added that the transportation authorities have kept encouraging the public to use electric cars and motorbikes. He admits that these vehicles are still unattractive to the drivers.

“Even though the government does not charge taxes upon purchases of electric cars, there are still no people buying these types of vehicles,” said Raimundo.

Lam Hin San, Director of the Transport Bureau (DSAT), also remarked that adopting electric buses in Macau has not produced an obvious positive effect yet.

The director stated that a big scale promotion of electric buses in Macau is currently impossible. He said that the cost of keeping the buses at full electrical charge would be high. Lam said that the transportation authority will continue researching buses powered by renewable energy.

In addition, Lam noted that several bus lines have recently expanded their capacity, especially those carrying 12,000 passengers on a daily basis. These buses have changed into medium sized buses from small sized buses, carrying more than 60 passengers as opposed to the previous 37.

Sio Chi Wai doubted Macau’s commitment to waste separation, (the separation of recyclable and landfill waste) which has always been ignored, even though the authorities have been promoting waste separation in the city for a long time.

“Why has waste separation not seen some good results after so many years? You said: Macau pretty much failed on environment protection. Why is environment protection forever a slogan in Macau?” Sio questioned Raimundo.

“I also think it is a relative failure,” admitted Raimundo, adding that “maybe not enough promotion and education have been done.”

The Secretary claims that he has visited separate trash cans around Praça de Ponte e Horta, but saw only common trash in all the trash bins. “This is a failure; our government indeed has [not done enough],” said Raimundo.

Sio, however, said that the secretary “is not a failure.” His suggestion to Raimundo was that he should concentrate his efforts on two groups, women and domestic helpers, as these are the two groups who frequently deal with waste at home.

Government-owned company to replace transportation infrastructure office

The Transportation Infrastructure Office (GIT) will be revoked next year, Raimundo do Rosário revealed at yesterday’s AL plenary meeting.

The secretary said that the government will establish a company, which will be a government-owned entity, to replace GIT. The company will specifically serve for public services.

According to Raimundo, the change is being prepared for the year of 2019, when the city’s Light Railway Transit (LRT) opens. The new company will then be responsible for LRT related management and operations. Julie Zhu