Sailing blind
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The lack of competence from top government officials doesn’t surprise me anymore. I’m used to it. But I do still worry and feel nervous when I witness so many wasted opportunities.
There is money that could be invested in basic infrastructure or sustainable development but it isn’t. Instead it is left sitting in dusty vaults because [...] |
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Not unfriendly, just timid
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If you are a regular reader of
Macau Business, you are sure to have noticed that over the past year we have increased our coverage of environmental issues. Our goal is to show what is being done by local companies to reduce their carbon footprint and to report on new business opportunities emerging in the green [...] |
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The future ahead
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Macau puts on its party shoes for the opening of the city’s 34th casino this month. It is a meaningful event.
Galaxy Macau will be Cotai’s third, fully integrated mega-resort. It will boost the area’s profile, creating a destination where visitors can easily spend a couple of days strolling around, away from the peninsula.
For Galaxy Entertainment [...] |
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Jumping the bandwagon
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Macau and Guangdong last month signed a framework agreement that will regulate cooperation between both parties for years to come. The newly inked pact is far reaching and intended to take the relationship across the Border Gate to a new level.
In many regards, the Macau-Guangdong agreement is almost a no-brainer.
If increasing integration between neighbours is [...] |
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Put workers to work
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In this month’s issue, Macau Business takes an extensive look at the city’s human resources. This is especially important at a time when Macau has reached full employment, with unemployment at its lowest level since the handover, according to official data.
A lack of workers hurts small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which have less bargaining power [...] |
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Sleeping through the alarm
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Another year has passed and, once again, a new casino gross gaming revenue record has been set in Macau. The city posted a spectacular growth rate above 50 percent, showing strong resilience in the face of continuing global economic ructions.
More importantly, Macau demonstrated that the liberalisation of gaming in Singapore was not a threat to [...] |
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Let’s get serious
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The cultural and creative industries are the Macau government’s latest attempt to diversify the casino-dominated economy. If that is to happen, there is still much to be done, as we report in this issue of Macau Business.
For starters, what does the concept mean?
According to UNESCO, cultural industries “are defined as those industries which produce tangible [...] |
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The Cotai debate
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It caught almost everyone by surprise. Sociedade de Jogos de Macau’s (SJM) bold declaration of interest in Cotai parcels 7 and 8 was the topic of conversation among leaders in the gaming industry last month.
Sands China marked the land as theirs years ago. Although Sheldon Adelson’s company is still waiting for the official grant, the [...] |
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Get smart or lose out
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If Macau Business was to theme its issues, this edition might take the rather unsexy title of “The Macau Public Administration’s Black Issue”.
A look at this month’s line-up of reports, and particularly those in our Politics section, paints a far from pleasing image of Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On’s team.
We certainly did not set [...] |
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Recent riches have killed future planning
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Worse than a government with no ideas, is a government with no ideas and a lot of money. Unfortunately, that’s where things seem to be heading in Macau.
The situation started to get worrying during Edmund Ho Hau Wah’s last years as chief executive. Launching the cash handout and health care voucher programmes were clear signs [...] |
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To blog the leaders
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The Internet allows this kind of undeniable truth: a better perception of the popular sentiment. Both for better and for worse.
Amidst all the junk, the Nigerian money-making scams and a whole lot of other nonsense, the Internet is home to many valid opinions from people that have no other way of expressing themselves. A kind [...] |
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Six short years
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One day, a while back, I found myself thinking that Macau deserved more than just the countless media outlets it already had, both in Chinese and Portuguese. A couple of years earlier, my partner and I had transformed our Portuguese-language newspaper from a weekly to a daily. The Portuguese community was well served, with three [...] |
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The Stockholm Syndrome
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The Macau government has sometimes been held hostage to several special interest groups and, apparently, still can’t live without them. Even worse, the government seems to have developed a Stockholm Syndrome in relation to its captors.
The long and winding story of what must be one of the silliest labour disputes in history is a good [...] |
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In praise of bravery
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All in all, it is a decision that we salute! |
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No time to waste
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Macau has nearly MOP100 billion in accumulated budget surpluses. They want to save it for a rainy day? I can understand that, but I don’t understand why not even the budgeted money for public investments is spent. Is it mere conjunctivitis or true blindness? Either way, it’s completely unacceptable. |
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The advisor conundrum
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By the look of things, our government secretaries will need a new building near the Praia Grande Palace to accommodate all the new advisors.
The change of government has brought a natural reshuffling of officials and, obviously, department heads. |
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No more excuses
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Macau has all the conditions to show that it has learned its lesson well and that the usual image of a city that risks nothing and dares nothing is behind us. |
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Making an honest mark
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Im still convinced that the whole affair was badly managed and that its details should convince the general to at least have some decorum and keep silent about the matter. |
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The business environment
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The natural gas business looks good but the way it happened leaves us with many doubts. We believe such an important process should have been explained in detail, on public, in order to avoid any suspicion that may hurt the people behind it and, naturally, the government officials that sponsored the deal. |
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The power of the shadows
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Who in his right mind, would invest knowing that they may fall into the hands of an unscrupulous group of people who only allow certain businesses to prosper? |
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If the job is too hard…
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Can it be that we have a CCAC only able to investigate a MOP100 Cases?a body with the nose and initiative only to investigate lesser question? Unfortunately, it appears so. If this is the case, ten it's better for it to remain as it was |
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Strange businesses
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Macau Fisherman's Wharf needs more than just construction,it needs constant innovation, backed by imaginative and ongoing marketing. Otherwise David Chow Can kiss goodbye to phase two |
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The risk of generalisation
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The day will come when a system is in place, which prevents Macau's bureaucrats from making decisions without thinking, instead of simply justifying the wrong attitudes |
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Five of the best
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We are firm believers in freedom of expression, and how important constructive criticism is to the maturity of societies, even if, sometimes, that criticism has to be harsh |
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The challenge of Las Vegas Sands
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The arrival of Las Vegas Sands (LVS) in Macau was seen as a balm – and in the beginning they certainly made a difference.
Four years later, there is a danger that the company runs the serious risk of giving the impression that it was a mistake to have it as partner.
The initial arrogance of a [...] |
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