Macao’s tap water consumption dropped continuously under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic during the past three years, so the city consumed just 83 million cubic metres last year, down by 3.5 per cent year-on-year.
Macao Water Executive Director Nacky Kuan Sio Peng said yesterday that although the number of visitors to Macao has increased thanks to the government’s gradual easing of Covid-19 restrictions since late last year, the city’s tap water consumption was still down until this month, adding she hoped that tap water consumption will grow five to six per cent year-on-year this month.
Kuan also said that with the gradual relaxation of travel restrictions between Macao and neighbouring regions, the number of tourists visiting the city has increased “significantly”, adding that Macao’s economy has been recovering in “an orderly manner”. She also said that this year’s tap water consumption was expected to increase by four to five per cent for the whole year.
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According to Kuan, partial repairs of the Ilha Verde Water Treatment Plant, which has been in operation for over 30 years, are slated to start in the middle of this year, adding that the repairs are expected to take about three months. She pledged that there would be no impact on the tap water supply to the public because of the normal operations of the Seac Pai Van plant in Coloane and the Main Storage Reservoir Water Treatment Plant in the peninsula.
Regarding her company’s open-ended Subsidy Programme for Repairing Service Connections of Low-rise Buildings that was launched last July, Kuan pointed out that about 3,000 households have benefited from the subsidy programme with MOP 10 million paid out.
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Kuan said that in the future, her company will also strengthen cooperation with higher education institutions, set up a student training base, and organise continuing professional development courses on construction and urban planning with professional associations, aiming to foster the development of local professional talents.
