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Edmund Ho's seventh address turns spotlight on education, health and housing

After toiling for years to boost Macau's economy, Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah focused on internal issues  in his policy address yesterday, pledging civil service reforms and an increase in spending on education, health and housing.

Kindergarten  would be made  free  within the current school year, Mr Ho said.  Macau students now enjoy 10 years of free education, from the third year of kindergarten  to  Form Three.

Heavy subsidies will also see every upper-secondary student receive 5,000 patacas in the 2006-07 school year. By  2009-10,  upper-secondary schools will be included in Macau's free education system.

Such measures will entail an 880 million pataca investment in the education sector next year.

To protect  homebuyers, Mr Ho  promised to set up a licensing system for real estate agents. And to help provide affordable housing to the lower-income class, the government plans to build 4,000  subsidised housing units for rent within three years, and at least another 2,000 units within five years.

As the Macau government hopes to open the door for more imported professional labour to fuel its growing economy, Mr Ho announced measures to ensure local talent would still  get priority.

From  the first half of next year,  firms employing non-Macau workers will have to pay a government surcharge. Mr Ho declined to specify the  amount.

'If we don't allow labour imports, how can our economic growth be sustained?' he said. 'At a later stage, regardless of how many expatriates put down roots here, they will eventually leave Macau and the locals will take over.'

Although the social policies announced yesterday were widely seen as a government attempt to even out the distribution of Macau's casino-driven riches, Mr Ho saw it otherwise.

By the end of this   financial year, it is estimated that Macau  will have 17 billion patacas in fiscal reserves, increasing to about 20 billion patacas by the end of next year. But Mr Ho said that was not enough.

'Our additional expenditure in education and medical services should not be seen as the government returning riches to the poor, because we are not rich yet,' he said. 'In 10 to 20 years, when we build up more formidable reserves, Macau people can truly claim to be rich.'

Mr Ho largely avoided reporters' questions on Macau's democratic development, saying only that its Article 23 legislation was still being drafted.

'We will not let Macau's democratic development halt or go backwards,' he added.

In his  seventh policy address, Mr Ho said he hoped to step up civil service and administrative reforms - such as streamlining the numerous advisory committees - and also plans to forbid top government officials from joining certain areas of the private sector, such as gaming, when they leave the civil service.

Focus is on boosting local economy

- Extending free education from 10 to 12 years this school year

- Imposing a labour import surcharge on companies employing  workers from outside Macau

-Building 4,000 public housing flats  in three years

- Restricting departing senior civil servants from joining the private sector

- Continuing to waive all business tax and a quarter of salaries tax



Macau's internal affairs focus of policy shift