The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, attended the plenary meeting of the Legislative Assembly today where he answered questions from 26 legislators on his Policy Address for the Fiscal Years 2013 delivered yesterday.
The questions covered policies on housing, human resource, social security, education, economic diversification, personnel training, child-care, smoking control in casinos, performance management system, population, anti-corruption, mandatory building inspection and inflation.
Housing policy attracted the most questions. Adhering to the principle of "Home for all in a contented society", Mr Chui said the Government would recommence accepting applications for Home-Ownership Scheme Housing and public rental housing flats in the first quarter of next year.
This would also enable the Government to gauge actual housing demand by the public for a further scientific study, Mr Chui said.
In addition to the 19,000 public housing units being completed as planned and another 6,300 units being planned as earlier announced, more land would be allocated for public housing.
He said statistics had shown that property prices moved like a wave and would not remain high forever. Thus he appealed to residents who plan to buy properties to carefully consider their own purchasing power. He said a sufficient supply of land would be guaranteed.
There were signs of overheating in the private housing market and the Government would introduce necessary measures to stabilise the market and to protect Macao's financial system, the Chief Executive said. Data collected from overseas and the World Bank suggested that mortgage payments should not exceed 40 per cent of total family income. On the "Macao property for Macao resident" policy, Mr Chui said since this was a new concept, it would require an in-depth study and a collection of public opinion. He said the Government would build residential units reserved for Macao residents on five pieces of newly reclaimed land to provide more choice for buyers.
On inflation, the Chief Executive said the Government would begin to amend laws to further protect consumers and to add more channels for importing commodities to Macao. He said large-scale enterprises should take responsibility in building a quality living environment in which residents could deliver their expertise to promote social mobility for society's well-being: he also urged them to raise staff salaries.
The Chief Executive said the Government would continuously strive to build long-term effective mechanisms and to share the fruits of its developments with all residents of Macao.
