Lawmakers urged the government Wednesday to stipulate in its amendment bill on land use that all information on any plot of land exempted from public tender must include the reasons for the exemption and the size of the respective plot, according to directly-elected lawmaker Kwan Tsui Hang who heads the legislature’s First Standing Committee.
Kwan, who is a vice-chairwoman of the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (commonly known as Gung Luen), made the remark after a meeting of the committee with government representatives – including Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) Director Jaime Roberto Carion – to continue discussions on the government-initiated bill regulating the use of the city’s scarce land resources.
The Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) measures just about 30 square kilometres.
According to the bill, the outline of which was approved last month, plots of land that do not need to be put out to public tender are those that are to be used for non-profit educational establishments or for cultural, public health, sports, social welfare and public utility services and that are in line with the government’s infrastructure plans and urban planning. All other land concessions must be put out to public tender.
Kwan said that during the meeting most of the lawmakers expressed their concern about the procedures regarding how the government would announce it decisions to exempt any plot of land from public tender.
“We [lawmakers] want to know how the government will announce its decisions regarding any plot of land exempted from public tender… and how it [plot of land] will be used,” Kwan was quoted by The Macau Post Daily as saying, adding, “Not only all members of the committee but all also the members of the plenum agree with the view that the bill should stipulate that any public information about the plot of land which does not need to be put out tender should include the reasons as to why the government excluded it from public tender and the size of the plot the government approved.”
Kwan quoted the government representatives as saying that the information would be released to the public once the application and details of the planned land use have been completed and before the final decision has been made.
The current wording of the bill states that public information about any application for a plot of land that will not be put out to public tender must include the applicant’s name, the location of the plot, its size and its use – but not the reasons for exempting it from public tender. (macaunews)
