Recruiting chairman outside of government

The gov’t is not ruling out hiring a chairman who is not related to any government departments for the wholly-owned urban renewal company

The second taskforce of the Urban Renewal Committee moved one step closer in its proposed plan to set up a company wholly-owned by the government and tasked with tackling the city’s urban renewal issues. The proposed company would be similar in framework to the Transport Infrastructure Office (GIT), a wholly-owned company set up by the government to handle the Light Rail Transit system.
According to Wong Seng Fat, assistant co-ordinator of the second taskforce of the Urban Renewal Committee, hiring a chairman without links to any public departments would be recommendable.
“We wish to find someone who has good marketing skills,” said Wong. “But obviously the chairman of the company would not necessarily need to be the one who makes decisions.”  Wong clarified that these decisions would be placed in the hands of the company’s board of directors.
During yesterday’s meeting, the committee finalised the draft proposal of administrative regulations and charter for the company and proposed its establishment under an administrative public corporation, to be run as a non-profit entity.
Wong further revealed that the role of shareholders, which should not be fewer than three, should be filled by the government and public funding institutions such as the Macao Foundation.
“The transfer of shares [of the company] must be done internally,” said Wong, while adding that the proportion of shares would be decided prior to the establishment of the company.
Regarding the registered capital of the company, Wong said the exact amount had yet to be announced.
“We have initial suggestions on the registered capital, but we will announce it once the draft is approved, such as the first amount that the government would invest,” said the assistant co-ordinator.
Wong added that the estimate is based upon the suggested charter drafted for the company, containing information such as the number of employees predicted to be employed.
When asked by the press about the monitoring of the company, Wong replied that the committee’s role will be to provide suggestions while the company will execute these plans and suggestions.

Not within this year
Wong affirmed that the company cannot be set up before this year-end.
“The draft was agreed upon among the members of the committee. After we revise the details we will finalise it and send the proposal to the government department,” said Wong. “We can only proceed to the setup procedure once the proposal is approved by the government.”
Although perceiving that the setup of the company would not be done by year-end, Wong added that setup procedures would not be drawn out given that the draft has already been approved by the committee.
Asked by the press what project will be initiated when the company is set up, the assistant co-ordinator said there was no concrete idea of the project to be first handled by the company, but he noted that the committee would be in favour of initiating tasks in old districts such as Iao Hon.
“We hope to start first on the old districts, but it would still be the decision to be made by the company,” said Wong.