Social Affairs and Culture with PIDDA projected execution rate at only 28.4%

The lawmakers who comprise the Follow-up Committee for Public Finance Affairs of the Legislative Assembly (AL) have raised concerns over the poor project execution rate for the Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong.

These concerns were expressed in a meeting yesterday morning at the AL, while analyzing the report on the Government Investment and Development Expenditure Plan (PIDDA) of the second quarter (Q2) of this year, the president of the committee, lawmaker Wong Kit Cheng said yesterday in a press briefing following the meeting.

According to Wong, the lawmakers were concerned not just by the low execution rate of 28.4% (which is lower than the average and much lower than other secretariats) but also by the fact that the lack of project execution seems to have affected those projects that are more heavily related to residents’ lives.

She added that the committee is submitting questions to the government to seek a clear justification on the matter.

“We want to know which projects have been affected [by the low execution rate] and if [among them] there are projects that affect directly the lives of people,” Wong said.

In general, from the 221 projects included in the PIDDA, the report shows that there was expenditure of 6.54 billion patacas in Q2. This represents a budget execution rate of 35.3%, a figure that increased by 9.9% when compared with the first quarter of the year.

The committee president also stated that the committee members have also noted that of the 221 projects registered, 43 of them (19.5%) have an execution rate of 0%. Among these, are at least three projects related to smart policing as well as laboratories and lab equipment for the University of Macau (UM), including nine projects that have not been executed to any extent.

The non-execution of the smart policing projects has been justified by the government due to the complexity of the design of the system. For this reason, the projects were listed in both Q1 and Q2, with 0% execution. The government said that the projects have commenced, but the execution rate will only be reflected in Q3.

As for the UM projects, the government said that the non-execution is because the acquisition of goods and services required to complete the projects is still undergoing the necessary public tenders.

Another project with 0% execution was the public housing of the Avenida de Wai Long. The government explained that due to the change in the concept design and swap from the economic housing model to the “sandwich class” public housing model, the project has been halted and is being re-conceptualized.