Fingers crossed

The Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo Rosario, has revealed that the government has not yet reached a consensus with the contractor in charge of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) superstructure of the depot in terms of terminating the contract. He stresses that the government will seek other solutions before taking legal action.
Raimundo Rosairo also revealed that regarding some other public works, the government has been taking the initiative to resolve the problems of projects delayed or put on hold. Regarding the Pac On Ferry Terminal, he said that more money and time will be spent but the project should be finished by the end of this year and that the terminal can be put into use by the end of next year.
In terms of the Toi San Public Housing project, the government and contractor have already agreed to terminate the contract and relevant arrangements will be made accordingly. Regarding the Mong Ha Public Housing and Sports Pavilion project, the Secretary said that the government and contractor are still at the stage of negotiating.
Acknowledging difficulties In response to some legislators’ criticism that public works tenders are still granted following the guideline of “the lower the price, the greater the chance the bidder will win”, Raimundo Rosario said that the secretariat hasn’t been following the guideline for years, and that in the past four months he has been in office most of the projects he approved are not granted to the bidder offering the lowest price.
The Secretary for public works acknowledged that the major problems affecting Macau’s public works now are delayed schedule and budget overruns. Rosario revealed that currently the government is considering the possibility of introducing a new method of calculating project time.
He indicated that by the end of this month, some officials will head to Hong Kong to study the experience of compensative penalties in public works. However, he said even the neighbouring region is having difficulties in this area and he believes that the execution of such policies in the future will encounter more difficulties.
Reflection necessary Some legislators said that reflection is necessary, criticising the Secretary for simply saying “We can’t do it”, “I don’t know why it happened”, and “there’s too much work.”
Legislator Ho Ion Sang suggested to the Secretary that the current legal framework regulating public works need to be reviewed and revised since some of the [regulations] are more than 30 years old and unsuited to Macau’s current conditions. Mr. Ho also said administrative procedures need to be simplified in order to speed up the process, which is also in accordance with the Chief Executive’s policy of “streamlining administration”.
Raimundo Rosario admitted that he hasn’t been in office for long and has been away from Macau for many years, saying ever since he took up the office he has been focusing on “solving the problems” such as putting public construction that have been stopped back into operation. He stressed that when the government launches an open tender they want the works finished rather than engage in lawsuits.
SJM and Melco to arrange workers transportation SJM and Melco Crown are to arrange transportation for their staff to travel between the Lotus Border in Cotai and their workplace starting from April 21 and May 1, respectively, Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo Rasario has revealed.
Transport Bureau director Wong Wan said the Bureau has instructed all six gaming operators to provide transportation for their workers, adding “some co-operate, some procrastinate”. Mr. Wong said that the arrangement of transporting the workers from the Lotus Border in Hengqin to enter Cotai in Macau would be the best option, since it alleviates the burden on the public transport system as well as the traffic on the roads of Macau. Mr. Wong added that they will follow up on the remaining four gaming operators with regard to this issue. He said that the authorities had made it clear to the gaming operators that this year is the time for review of the gaming industry and if there is no positive reaction regarding the government’s request, “the consequences would be serious”.
Human Resources:
Mission Impossible Secretary Raimundo Rosario said that many tasks under his secretariat with 15 departments and 3,200 personnel are basically “mission impossible”. Mr. Rosario said his secretariat has a tremendous workload and that the government is not the private sector, with some decisions needing to be made through tedious administrative procedures. He further indicated that the Chief Executive, Chui Sai On, has already put forward the policy of “streamlining administration” and said that only the security and health sectors can recruit more people, thus he has to work with what he has now.
In terms of staff training, Rosario cited the example of the Transportation Infrastructure Office(GIT), citing the average age of personnel being around 30 years old. Many are good engineers unfamiliar with administrative procedures. He said that instead of technical training staff need to be taught about administrative procedures which “were not taught by university”.
The Secretary – who took up the office four months ago – said that ever since then he hasn’t really had a stable team to work with since many managerial level staff in several departments experience or are going to experience personnel changes. The Secretary said he would try to find the suitable people to fill the vacancies of those positions as soon as possible.
He even made a public ‘recruitment advertisement’ at the meeting, appealing to people that are not in the civil servant system to join the management of his secretariat, saying that he has tried to hire people but been refused as “these shoes are too difficult to fill”.
“Anyone is more than welcome to call my office if they want to apply for the job of Bureau director! I am not joking,” said Mr. Rosario. “People in these posts are under a lot of pressure. And directors or vice directors have a monthly salary of merely MOP70,000 to MOP80,000 [a month]. Theoretically, not many people are willing to take up these jobs.”