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Macao Chief Executive Edmund Ho emphasised the idea of social harmony in a keynote policy speech yesterday, saying that the city's government would pursue measures to improve people's livelihoods and make officials more accountable for their performance.

Ho said economic changes taking place in the city highlighted the need for efforts to ensure harmony.

He also announced that civil servants would receive a 4.76-per-cent pay raise and that the government would introduce minimum wages for cleaning staff and security guards in 2007.

Referring to the city's manpower shortage, Ho said the government would help find jobs for middle-aged men with low levels of educational attainment and would also establish a fund to subsidize on-the-job training, particularly young people.

He said the government would also set up a human resources management office to collect manpower data and process applications from companies looking to import labour.

"The government will improve its labour-importation policy to help small- and medium-sized firms tackle the manpower shortage problem by streamlining the administration procedure," he said.

Ho said the government would levy a charge on imported labour, and would work with both employers and employees to specify acceptable proportions of imported and local labour for each industry.

The government is also planning to lift duties on life insurance, mobile phone licence fees and pager licence fees.

The government is also working with franchised companies to reduce energy fees and expand business lending. Such moves are expected to ease the financial burden on small- and medium-sized firms.

Ho said that despite the city's recent emphasis on opening casinos, gambling revenue accounted for only part of the city's economic development plans.

"The rapid growth of the gambling industry is only the preliminary stage of economic growth," he said.

He said the government would encourage academics and experts to study the future development of the city's cultural industry, particularly catering, and examine ways to strengthen cooperation with the mainland.

Ho also said the government would establish a transportation affairs bureau to coordinate infrastructure projects, and step up the construction of a harbour tunnel.

The chief executive acknowledged in his speech that some government officials had been ignoring public demands and often hid their policy mistakes. He added that some consultative bodies were not functioning well because they did not adequately represent the public.

He said the government would establish an accountability system for civil servants and strengthen the mechanism for handling public complaints.

Ho said more young people and representatives of different sectors to be brought in to make the consultative bodies more representative.

And one official at each government office will be charged with liaising with community groups and consultative bodies.

"The improved and broadened consultative mechanism will be an importable platform for collecting public opinions, which are essential for supporting and enhancing government policies," he said.

The government would also step up moral education and the promotion of Confucian values to facilitate the creation of a harmonious society, he said.