Computerized picture of Hengqin
A survey of local residents conducted by the Macao Youth Federation showed that over eighty percent of respondents had no interest in moving to Hengqing to live or work, neither through purchasing nor renting properties there.
The group successfully interviewed 500 residents over the age of 18 between February 26 and 28, and released the findings during a press conference on Sunday. According to a vice-director of the federation’s Macau Youth Politics Training Program Committee, Lei Chi U, only about 9.1 percent of the respondents said they had considered moving to Hengqin or buying homes there, whereas 85 percent said that they had no such intention.
Lei indicated the main reasons attracting those residents to move to Hengqin were the cheaper rent and lower property prices combined with a higher quality of living. However, the survey didn’t ask for the reasons why the rest had no interest.
The survey also showed that only about 10 percent of residents were willing to work on the neighboring island, where a free trade zone was established this year with preferential policies for Macau investors and enterprises. Over 80 percent of respondents said that they hadn’t considered working there; and nearly 70 percent of them believed that the employment conditions in Macau were better than those in Hong Kong and the mainland.
In order to attract young people from Macau and simulate industrial diversification, Hengqin has recently opened an Entrepreneurship Valley for Macau Youth that aims to provide an incubation center for local start-ups. About 30 businesses have moved in after the inauguration, with about 170 applications pending.
According to the survey, 23 percent of respondents said that they planned to start up their own business, or had already done so. Amongst those, one fifth of them intended to set the enterprise up in Hengqin, as they were attracted by Hengqin’s development prospect, cheaper rent and the funding from the government. However, over 40 percent of respondents also said that they were unfamiliar with the entrepreneurial environment in Hengqin.
Regarding Macau residents’ “low interest” in participating in the development of the neighboring island, the federation’s chairman, Chan Sao Chai, urged the governments from both sides to jointly set up a one-stop platform in Macau to provide information about Hengqin, including about planning, taxation and legal protection, in order to increase public awareness of the area.
Ms Chan suggested that inconvenient transportation and restrictions on Internet access might be the main reasons hindering Macau youths’ desire to move there. “They need to show Macau residents which department they can look to for help if they encounter any difficulties when they move to Hengqin in the future, especially after the authorities have allowed vehicles access to Hengqin,” she said.
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