Macau is to set up 147 e-channels at its ports of entry in the next two years to ease mounting pressure at immigration checkpoints.
Secretary for Security Cheong Kuok-va told the legislature yesterday that the government would spend 85 million patacas on 147 electronic clearance machines before the end of 2009.
The administration would relieve pressure at checkpoints gradually through technological improvement and by recruitment, Mr Cheong said.
The announcement came a day after the secretary said Macau had bought 18 e-clearance machines for the Border Gate checkpoint. The city now has only 15 e-channels in use, all of them at the Border Gate and solely for Macau residents.
The security chief also said that it would take three to four years to fill a shortage of 1,500 people in the police force, which has fewer than 6,000 officers.
