The government is launching a 60-day public consultation today on the drafting of a bill regulating the operation and supervision of the city’s public enterprises, which aims to ensure that their decision-making process will always be supervised by the government – which holds some or all of their shares – and ensure the rational use of the public coffers.

The bill proposes that public enterprises will be overseen by a public entity, which the government said yesterday would be one of the existing public entities, i.e., there will be no need to set up a new public entity.

The bill aims to solve the problem that the government’s supervision of public enterprises is not clearly defined, as Macau’s various public enterprises are overseen by different public entities in line with the nature of each enterprise’s scope of business. 

Macau Special Administrative Region Public Assets Supervision and Planning Office Director Sónia Chan Hoi San speaks during yesterday’s press conference at the Macau Science Centre (MSC) in Nape about a public consultation of the drafting of the government’s bill regulating public enterprises. Photo: Tony Wong

A press conference about the public consultation was held yesterday at the Macau Science Centre (MSC) in Nape. The public consultation will end on December 18. Two public sessions will be held during the consultation period.

The press conference was hosted by Sónia Chan Hoi Fan, who heads the Macau Special Administrative Region Public Assets Supervision and Planning Office (GPSAP). 

The office was established as a government project team on December 20, 2019 when Chan was appointed its director. Chan was the policy secretary for administration and justice in the previous government, which ended on December 19, 2019.

The office is tasked with studying the modus operandi of the city’s public enterprises and use of public funds and submitting suggestions to the chief executive on possible improvements to their operation and use. The office is also tasked with assisting the government in formulating measures to promote the sound operation of public enterprises and public funds.

The office has an initial duration of three years which can be extended, and is directly overseen by the chief executive and is headed by a director with the assistance of two deputy directors.

Public enterprises, also known as publicly-funded companies, refer to firms in which the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) government or any of its entities are holding shares. According to the office’s website, local companies where the government is holding over 50 percent of the shares include the Macau International Airport Company (CAM), Macau Science Centre Limited, Macau World Trade Centre Limited, and Macau Slaughterhouse Limited.

According to the website, some public enterprises are wholly owned by the government, i.e., it is holding 100 percent of the shares, such as public broadcaster TDM, as well as the company tasked with the planning and operation of Macau’s Light Rail Transit (LRT), and the company tasked with the city’s urban renewal process.

According to the website, local companies where the government is holding less than 50 percent of the shares include power utility CEM (8.16 percent), telecom operator CTM (one percent), and Air Macau (21.5 percent).

According to the website, there are currently 22 publicly-funded companies in Macau. In 14 of the companies the government holds over 50 percent of the shares.

The public consultation document points out that Macau currently does not have a specific legal system regulating the operation of the city’s public enterprise. In addition, there is also no specifically designated public entity tasked with overseeing the operation of public-funded companies.

The consultation document notes that consequently the operation of the city’s public enterprises is only regulated by the Commercial Code, which applies to all types of companies in Macau.

The consultation document also notes that the purpose of establishing the Public Assets Supervision and Planning Office is to study and draft a specific legal system regulating the operation of public enterprises.

Chan said during yesterday’s press conference that since its establishment, her office has been visiting various public enterprises in order to gain a better understanding of their respective operations.

Chan said that her office had also commissioned a research institution to study the operation of the city’s various public enterprises. The office has also studied and compared legislation in various countries and regions, such as mainland China, France, Germany, Japan, Portugal, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States before drafting the public consultation document about the proposed legislation regulating public enterprises in Macau. Chan said that her office also took into account Macau’s legal system and its socioeconomic situation when drafting the proposed legislation.

According to Chan, the government is proposing that Macau would adopt the modus operandi of supervision similar to the mainland, whose State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission is tasked with managing all state-owned enterprises (SOEs). As far as Macau concerned, Chan said, the local government is proposing that all public enterprises would be overseen by just one public entity, which would also be tasked with exercising the rules listed in the proposed legal system regulating public enterprises.

According to the public consultation document, countries such as Japan and the UK have different legal systems regulating different public enterprises.

Chan said that the local government is proposing to establish its legal system regulating public enterprises in line with the mainland’s practice after considering that Macau does not have a large number of public enterprises. Chan said that adopting this modus operandi would involve a lower cost as there would be no need to draft different legislations specifically for different public enterprises.

After the public consultation process is completed, the bill regulating the operation of public enterprises will have to be passed by the Legislative Assembly to become law.

Chan said that the government would not set up a new public entity tasked with overseeing the city’s public enterprises. Chan said that the government would only decide whether her office or another existing public entity would be tasked with overseeing the operation of the city’s public enterprises after the new law takes effect – if passed by lawmakers in the future.