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The soft opening ceremony of Macau Fisherman's Wharf was held tonight (31 December), with the presence of the Chief Executive Ho Hau Wah and central government officials.

An opening show starring the American band CHICAGO was staged at the Roman Amphitheatre.

The operator expects thousands of citizens and tourists will visit this new entertainment attraction to celebrate the opening and New Year's Eve, whose celebration shows are also held.

From 1 January onwards, the theme park will open 24 hours free of charge.

David Chow, the CEO of Macau Fisherman's Wharf, stated that the theme park has been developed “based on the prime aim to support and advocate the Macau Government's strategic focus”.

Chow claimed that the completion of Macau Fisherman's Wharf “symbolises the start of a new era of Macau tourism industry”, whilst “enhances the brand equity of Macau as a prime tourism destination.”

The New Year Countdown event is conducted with the presences of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Chui Sai On. A firework display will be staged at around midnight to greet the New Year.

Within the 120,000 square-metred entertainment attraction, the 72 shopping and dining tenants are scheduled to open their outlets before the Chinese New Year.

The public were allowed to visit the Wharf after 19:30, with soft opening souvenirs offered to all guests.

Admission of visitors had to be conducted in batches to avoid congestion.

The Macau Fisherman's Wharf is located at Macau's outer harbour, 5-minute walk from the Macau Ferry Terminal and Heliport.

The total investment of the first phase of the project is anticipated to reach 1.9 billion Hong Kong Dollars.

The project occupies an area of over 120,000 sq. m., combining entertainment, retail, food, hotel, marina, convention and exhibition facilities in one place.

The theme park is scheduled to open 24 hours free of chrage, but operations of all the rides are to be from 10:00 to 21:00 daily.

The newly-formed management committee of a residential complex at Areia Preta will only pay for electricity bills from next year.

The committee met officials of the Companhia de Electricidade de Macau (CEM), and told them that they “failed to contact” with the Veng Va Management Company, which used to manage the Hoi Pan Gardens.

The CEM will listen to legal advices first before deciding on how to have the 1 million Patacas worth of owed electricity payment back, but power supplies to the public spaces will not be cut in the next 10 days.

Representatives of the new management committee told reporters that three bidders have expressed interests in managing the Hoi Pan Gardens, but tenders will be opened 10 days later than scheduled.

Meanwhile, the management committee ordered Veng Va Management Company to retreat from management posts by midnight on 31 December.

The residential complex will then be managed by the Association of Property Management for the time being.

Salinity in Macau may be resolved by transferring water from other rivers in mainland China.

Located at the west side of the Pearl River Delta Region, Macau and the neighbouring cities in China are periodically affected by salinity. The water salinity level current stands at 800, far higher than the safety standard of 500.

Authorities in mainland China is planning to transfer water from the downstream of Beijiang to the affected Xijiang, to increase its total volume of flow, and thereby reducing the salinity.

Fan Xiaojun, Deputy General Manager of Macao Water, told reporters that Macau's reservoirs in ZAPE and Coloane are capable of diluting about half-a-month's water.

The salinity level for yesterday (29 December) and today stand at 500, and 520 for tomorrow, 550 for New Year's Day and 600 for 2 January.

Salinity in Macau occured as a result of the sea water flowing back to the river as a result of the draught seasons in autumn and winter.

Although no clinical evidence shows that intakes of water with slightly higher levels of chlorine and salinity will affect human health, inconveniences may bring about for the vulnerable or those with special needs.

Meanwhile, sales of bottled waters are known to have increased by 30% over the past few days, and supplies begin to show signs of lagging behind from demands.

Beijing will allow more people to travel to Macau on their own, and political reforms require Macau people's support, said the Chief Executive Ho Hau Wah in wrapping up his duty visit to Beijing.

He told reporters that he reported to the state leaders in Beijing the economic and social developments of Macau, including how to implement the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) better, and the progress of the cross-border industrial zone with Zhuhai.

He repeated that the Government will announce a proposal “at an appropriate time” on reforming the methods in electing the Chief Executive and the Legislative Assembly in 2009. While promising the democratic development of Macau will be developed “incrementally”, a proposal will not be drawn up next year or in 2009.

He also said that political reforms in Hong Kong and Macau are pegged with each other, and it is “naive” to think that the progress of political reforms in Hong Kong will not affect Macau at all.

He said that the veto by Hong Kong on the political reform plan implies that an ample consultation process must be made. What is important for any political reforms is the adherence of the Basic Law, and the final decision will be sure to be at the hands at the population of Macau.

He mentioned to the state leaders that the development of Hengqin island will still be focusing on the framework in collaborating with Guangdong Province, and the Pan-Pearl-River-Delta region. He believed that the central government will “take into account the development needs of Macau” to develop Hengqin island into “a hinterland” for Macau.

When being asked whether he has any experience or “good practice” to share on the good governance of Macau, Ho pointed out that the central government supports Macau by supporting the implementation of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle in Macau, rather than by supporting him personally.

He also pointed out that given such a small economy, there is no experience for any others to learn from at all.

He expressed hopes that the society of Macau can unite together to insert greater efforts in developing a better future for Macau.

Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao expressed admiration over the Government's policy aim to implement 15-year free education by 2009, saying that he is “deeply impressed”.

Ho Hau Wah told Wen Jiabao that the economic growth rate for Macau in 2005 will possibly stand at between 6 to 7%, but this will be decided by the performance of exports at the final quarter of the year.

The Government appoints a consulting firm to study on setting up an institutional framework to monitor the operation of Macau's casinos.

The Macau Special Administrative Region Gazette issued a despatch by the Secretary for the Economy and Finance yesterday (27 December) to authorise Manuel Neves, Director of the Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau to sign a contract with PricewaterhouseCoopers to provide a service on studying the “perfection of the minimum internal control requirements” and providing training to the Bureau's members of staff.

Monitoring of casino operations is currently conducted by inspectors who visit the casinos personally.

An official told Jornal Va Kio that sending inspectors to visit the casinos will not work in a long term as a result of the casino boom, and is “not scientific”.

An institutional framework to monitor casino operations is then necessary, the official said.

It will work by signing agreements between the Government and different casino operators on the minimum internal control requirements, and Government inspectors will make random checks on the implementation of the agreements.

The content of the agreements will vary among casinos, as a result of the different management systems in each casinos. However, the major components of the agreements will include how to manage chips, accounting, and how to deposit turnovers into accounts, etc.

A woman died and eight others fell ill in a fire which was reported late.

The fire broke out at a luxury block of flats at Estrada de Cacilhas at Guia at 14:30 yesterday (27 December). The security guard to the block was known to rush up to the affected flat in a failed attempt to save a woman who was inconvenient in movements before reporting the fire to the authorities. The woman later was found dead at the scene.

Earlier, the maid at the same flat took the girl out, and reported to the security guard about the fire and told him to save the woman.

Firefighters put the fire under control in an hour, and they admitted that high temperatures up to 800 degrees Celcius made firefighting work particularly difficult for them.

Eight other people were also sent to the S. Januˆhrio Hospital for inhaling smoke.

The spokesman of the Fire Brigade appealed to the public to report to fire incidents immeidately to the authorities before escaping.

Chinese President Hu Jintao expressed satisfaction over the Chief Executive Ho Hau Wah and his government, during a meeting with Ho in his duty-reporting trip in Beijing.

President Hu met Ho at Zhongnanhai, the official residence of Chinese state leaders, yesterday (27 December). Hu affirmed the achievement of Macau over the year 2005, saying that the successful inscription of the Historic Centre to UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage List and the hosting of East Asian Games have helped in elevating the image of Macau internationally.

President Hu also advised the Chief Executive to get his government unite with all walks of life and to respond positively to the “newly-developed situations and problems” in Macau.

Ho Hau Wah pointed out that support from the central government is the key for Macau's success in World Heritage inscription and hosting of the East Asian Games.

While he pointed out that the general situation of Macau is “relatively good”, he told President Hu that the Legislative Assembly election is “more or less smooth”.

He told Hu that the process of the election has shown that there are changes in Macau's society, which he deemed that those are “beneficial” to the future tasks of the Government.

Before setting off to Beijing, Ho Hau Wah told reporters that political reforms will not be the focus of his duty-reporting trip.

He promised that the Government will formulate methods for elections to the Chief Executive and the Legislative Assembly from 2009 “at an appropriate time”, and will give “ample time” to the population to express their opinions.

He also admitted that he will have to “listen to the instruction of the (central government)” regarding political reforms.

He said that there are still a few years to go for 2009, and so consultations on political reforms may not have to be proceeded next year.

Ho will meet Premier Wen Jiabao today, and will return to Macau afterwards.

A visitor of Macau was confirmed dead and another injured in the fire that broke out in a bar in Zhongshan City, in the neighbouring Guangdong Province.

The fire, which broke out at Christmas Day, has killed 26 people and 11 were left seriously injured.

According to the report from the BBC, the cause of the fire in the Tandao Bar at Tanzhou Town, is unclear, but media and a local fire official say fire safety in the bar was inadequate.

Early reports say fallen disco lights or a gas blast could have caused the blaze, and more than 100 people were inside when it broke out just before midnight.

Meanwhile, authorities in Guangdong has arrested four brothers who owned the bar. One of the arrested is currently being treated in hospital for severe burns.

One more worker from Hong Kong died for severe internal bleeding in the industrial accident at the Cotai Strip.

Trade union representatives from Hong Kong arrived in Macau yesterday (27 December) to understand the situation, and since the workers were employed by a contractor from Hong Kong, they will be compensated according to regulations in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the trades union in Hong Kong and Macau called for Hong Kong workers who are in Macau to complete their formalities according to normal procedures in order safeguard their rights.

Macau's postage fees will increase from 1 January, after six years of freeze.

Letters to be delivered within Macau will cost 1.50 Patacas each, from 1 Pataca, and basic tariff for letters to Hong Kong will go up to 1.50 Patacas, and mainland China 2.50 Patacas.

Mail to Taiwan will be counted as the mail to China category, with postage fee goes down from 4.50 Patacas to 3.50 Patacas.

Meanwhile, postage to countries in South East Asia and South Asia will be 4 Patacas, and to the rest of the world 5 Patacas.

The rate of increase of the postage fees range from 20% to over 67%.

The Macau Post cited increasing cost, loss of income from penalties and premium due to the transfer of telecommunications duties to the Office for the Development of Telecommunications and Information Technology (GDTTI), as well as the decreasing demand in philately were the reasons for the increase in postage fees.