Public bid opening for 200 taxi licenses tomorrow

The government will hold the opening of the bids for a total of 200 ordinary taxi licenses tomorrow at the Macao Polytechnic Institute. According to authorities, up to 643 bidders subscribed to the tender before the deadline last Thursday.
With 230 licenses expected to expire after next year, the government launched a public tender on the 20th of last month, offering 200 grants for taxi-driving licenses valid for eight years. As prescribed by the existing regulation which governs passenger transport by cabs, the government must resort to public tenders for issuing related licenses with each one’s floor price worth MOP200,000. Furthermore, license grantees are required to make another payment for stamp tax, which is 10 percent of that price, as well as a sum of MOP50,000 as cash deposit when participating in the tender to ensure their obligations are fulfilled in their bidding documents.
However, the city has yet to see the official bidding scheme for another 100 special licenses regarding taxi operation in another format, which the government proposed to offer in the first half of the year as it was believed to be controversial and required lengthy deliberation.
According to a press release issued by the Transport Bureau (DSAT), bidders should arrive at the venue before 10 a.m. with their identity cards and bidding slips. Any bidder not available for their bidding tomorrow can legally appoint a representative to attend the event.
Eager to fill the possible gaps in the industry, the government earlier expected that the license grantees could commence operations in two or three months at the earliest.