The government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) will implement new mechanisms to protect the interests of local construction workers, local media reported Thursday.

The Macao Post Daily quoted Francis Tam Pak Yuen, Secretary for Economy and Finance, as saying that the plan is to guarantee that when construction projects enter the final phase, imported laborers will be the first to leave, allowing local workers to finish off work.

The government has urged the construction site owners and major construction companies to enforce the implementation of the scheme, the official was cited by the newspaper.

Macao's construction business has been seeing a boom triggered by the prosperous gaming industry, attracting a major inflow of imported laborers, many of which from the Chinese mainland.

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2007)