By Luciana Leitão

Members of the Legislative Assembly created quite a stir when they strongly criticised the government last month after officials inadvertently struck several provisions from the bill to regulate real estate agencies and their brokers that they had earlier agreed on.

This was the latest version of a bill the government first presented to legislators last February. It was part of a package of measures announced in September 2010 to rein in the residential property market.

Taking an age to pass bills into law is becoming a habit in the Legislative Assembly. Several important bills are languishing there, raising doubts about their usefulness once they are eventually enacted.

Read the full version of this article in the February issue of Macau Business magazine, now available at selected newsstand outlets in Macau, Hong Kong bookshops, by subscription and at partner hotels, restaurants, airlines and ferry carriers in Macau.