Government would reserve more land for public housing, release allowance to families who are on waiting list for public housing and require contractors to employ local workers for public works, the Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said today in the Legislative Assembly. Twelve plots of land in Seac Pai Van, Coloane, will be reserved for building public housing, which covers an area of 42,300 square metre that could produce 306,000 square metres of floor area, the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Mr Lau Si Io, explained in a press conference afterwards. He added that this measure was included in the project of building 19,000 public housing units before 2010. The Government will enhance transparency of the progress of building public housing by facilitating the content of the website of the Housing Bureau, and by other means. Moreover, the Government announced that a housing subsidy will be given to families on the waiting list for public housing, a policy to offset rising rental expenses. Families with one or two members will receive a monthly subsidy of 750 patacas while those with three or more will be given 1100 patacas per month. This policy, to be in effect for one year, will cost the treasury 85 million patacas. Moreover, the Government will introduce a pilot policy that requires contractors undertaking general public works projects of less than 10 million patacas to employ local workers only, apart from posts requiring special skills that could not be provided by local workers. The employment of imported workers in such projects will only be approved after rigorous examination. The Government will evaluate the effect of this policy and make adjustment when necessary, said Mr Lau.
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