The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, chairs a plenary meeting of the Commission for the Coordination in the Management and Development of the Maritime Area.
The Chief Executive, Mr Chui Sai On, said effective management of Macao’s waters would be crucial to advancing the city’s economic diversification and pressing further the city’s strategic advantages.
Mr Chui made the comments on Wednesday (10 October) as he reviewed – during the 2018 annual plenary meeting of the Commission for the Coordination in the Management and Development of the Maritime Area – works relating to the management of Macao’s waters.
To optimise management and planning relating to those waters, the Government had diligently implemented works covering a number of areas. Such efforts had occurred since the State Council’s approval on 20 December 2015 of Macao’s administrative role in the 85 square kilometres of waters surrounding the city.
Mr Chui, who also acts as the Commission’s Chairman, reviewed the Government’s progress in managing the waters. This mainly covered the following five areas:
1) establishment, respectively of: an integrated mechanism to lead the development effort regarding Macao’s waters, including the establishment in March 2017 of the Commission for the Coordination in the Management and Development of the Maritime Area and the Working Group on the Medium-to-long-term Plan for Usage and Development of the Waters;
2) creation of the Maritime Area Management Framework Law, a measure enacted in July 2018;
3) completion of most of the work regarding Macao’s Medium-to-long-term Plan for Usage and Development of the Waters of the Macao Special Administrative Region (2016-2036), a scientific approach to planning regarding usage and development of the waters;
4) adjusting and specifying responsibilities of Government departments regarding maritime management; and
5) bolstering cooperation with public departments on the mainland.
Mr Chui stressed the final formulation of the Medium-to-long-term Plan for Usage and Development of the Waters was a significant blueprint to guide the economic development of the city’s maritime area. It would also act as a driving force to complement Macao’s cooperation ties with regional partners and assist the city’s contributions regarding the overall development of the country.
The Chief Executive urged Commission members to step up cooperation with appropriate departments in order to grasp the unprecedented opportunity to advance Macao’s prospects in this sector of the economy.
During the Wednesday meeting, Commission members discussed optimisation efforts that had led to the current proposal regarding the Medium-to-long-term Plan for Usage and Development of the Waters, and how those efforts had been tailored to facilitate other anticipated legislative procedures.
