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TELECOM MARKET LIBERALISATION
COTAI
Two new telecommunication operators will join CTM in pro- viding landline phone services. The international tender will be opened in the rst half of the year. Last month, CTM said it remains “fully committed” to supporting the government’s telecom development strategy. The government has said it expects tariffs to go down as competition increases.
REGIONAL COOPERATION
Where there is a will, there is a way. And the way to diversify the economy here seems to be to strength regional coopera- tion. At least according to Mr Chui, who said Macau has placed great hope in strengthening cooperation within the Pan Pearl River Delta in 2012. SAR secretaries have said they would like to see more regional co-operation on meet- ings and conventions as this would help drive Macau towards becoming an international tourism and leisure hub.
HUMAN RESOURCES
The unemployment rate is at an all-time low. Between Sep- tember and November the unemployment rate stood at 2.3 percent, down by 0.1 percentage point over the previous peri- od. In contrast, the number of non-local workers has reached a new three-year high. Figures show this number stands at over 92,000. While the total labour force is around 345,000 people, many small and medium-sized enterprises are feeling the strain because they can’t match the salaries offered by the large hotels and casinos, therefore making it harder to attract future employees. Casinos also complain about labour short- ages, both in quantity and quality.
HENGQIN ISLAND
The Hengqin Island campus of the University of Macau is scheduled to open by the end of the year. A new company has been created to coordinate the SAR’s investment in the future industrial park in Hengqin that will be developed jointly with Guangdong authorities. The land is also attracting interest from gaming operators. SJM Holdings and Galaxy Entertainment Group have both said they would like to invest in Hengqin, even though they haven’t announced any concrete plans yet.
LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT SYSTEM
Everyone wants a piece of the Cotai. Sands Cotai Central will open this year and the government should also nally al- low some of the new casino resorts into the pipeline to break ground. For Sands China Ltd., the question remains: how will the gaming operator successfully open its new property when the government has implemented a cap on the number of gaming tables which is already close to being achieved? Will Sands China Ltd. have to shift tables from its other properties to the new one? Just last month, SJM Holdings Ltd. said it received a
letter from the government granting it a piece of Cotai too. And Wynn Macau Ltd. also announced it has accepted the terms and conditions for a land concession in Cotai. The government, however, has said both applications are not yet approved.
LAND GRANTS AND URBAN PLANNING
Ever since the former secretary for public works and trans- port Ao Man Long was arrested in 2006, all eyes have been on Macau and the lack of transparency surrounding land grants. This has triggered authorities to look into coming up with a revised system, to be sent to the Legisla- tive Assembly by year-end for approval, after years in the making. The deadline for the city’s maiden urban planning law is the same. Field experts say that without one, the other won’t work.
Again, Beijing has said it wants to see Macau accelerate the pace of economic diversi cation. When Mr Chui met with premier Wen Jiabao and president Hu Jintao last month, the central government also urged that local authorities inten- sify their work to improve people’s livelihoods and carefully manage nancial matters. Mr Wen also reiterated that Macau can’t rely on gaming revenues alone.
ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
If traf c is already clogged and congested in many of Macau’s major arteries, then the start of the large-scale construction works for the rst phase of the light rail transit system will only make it worse. Managing people’s dissatis- faction while ensuring the system’s construction goes ahead without any further delays won’t be an easy task.
Macau has done fairly well in weathering the global nan- cial crisis but many analysts are worried that the territory is over-reliant on the gaming industry. The city’s fast growth has in turn led to the widening of the wealth gap. To counter this and help those in need, the government has been imple- menting a wide array of social relief measures – the question is whether this is enough to ensure social stability. At the Legislative Assembly, secretary for administration and justice Florinda Chan said her of ce would look into increasing the wages for public servants later this year.
JANUARY 2012
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