Raymond Tam admits gov’t has changed method for some public consultations

In response to an inquiry from lawmaker Ron Lam earlier this week at the Legislative Assembly, the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raymond Tam, admitted that the government has amended some of its procedures, namely regarding the methods for public consultation.

Questioned by Lam about the lack of public consultation for several large-scale public works projects, Tam refuted the idea that the government is skipping this step and instead said it is collecting opinions from the public via advisory committees and sectoral groups.

“Public consultations can be done by different methods,” Tam said, adding that in the first half of this year alone, the government has conducted 34 public consultations on several topics and projects, most of them done through the different advisory committees.

According to the Secretary, “this method brings the government closer to society and not the opposite.”

He also said that the government would insist on this method, adding that other services and departments (not part of his Secretariat) are adopting the same methodology.

He hinted that this is part of a change of methods across the whole government, not just the Secretariat for Transport and Public Works.

Lawmaker Lam disagreed with Tam on the approach, adding that this method lacks transparency and aims to disregard the opinion of citizens on significant projects that directly influence people’s livelihood.

Citing several examples, Lam noted the transformation of the new landfill’s road link between Zone A and Zone B from a tunnel into a bridge, and works performed at the Pátio da Eterna Felicidade.

Lam also accused the government of not following the existing rules to approve construction works, arguing that the projects should pass through the Urban Planning Committee (CPU) for approval.

Tam explained that only private works have the mandatory procedure of issuing the Urban Conditions Plan (PCU) to support the work license. Since public works do not require licensing, there is no need to issue a PCU, but he added that all government projects must pass through regular approval procedures from the different authorities.

Lam insisted that the government is deliberately avoiding all forms of public scrutiny, aiming to hide the plans until the works are underway.