The Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) is modifying an official list classifying which kinds of construction projects are subject to environmental impact assessments, Raymond Tam Vai Man, who heads the bureau, said on Sunday.
The city’s eco-chief spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a public event celebrating World Environment Day in Praça da Amizade, popularly known as Sintra Square.
Tam said the list, which was introduced by the bureau in 2013 on a trial basis, had to be modified because Macau’s coastal waters, encompassing an area of 85 square kilometres, came under the city’s jurisdiction in December following a decision by the central government on the matter.
Asked by reporters when the bureau will launch a public consultation on the government’s planned bill on the “Project Environment Impact Assessment System”, Tam said the bureau would “do the relevant work step by step”. He said last month in a reply to a written interpellation by legislator Si Ka Lon that the public consultation would be launched when the list has been modified and “certain conditions have been met”.
Tam also said the government would step up its effort to recycle kitchen waste. According to Tam, the bureau has been recycling kitchen waste from canteens in some government bodies including the Judiciary Police (PJ) and Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT).
Food waste accounts for between 30 and 40 per cent of the city’s total refuse, according to Tam.
(Macau News / The Macau Post Daily)
