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Development Ministry Received $234.77 Million in Budget
March 22nd, 2016 | 16:16 PM | 7032 views
JALAN DEWAN MAJLIS, BRUNEI-MUARA
The Ministry of Development, has been allocated $234.77 million in the 2016-17 budget, a reduction of nearly 21 per cent compared to the allocation in the previous fiscal.
The allocation includes of $104.35 million for employees salary; $116.22 million for recurring expenditure; $14.20 million for special expenditure, Yang Berhormat Dato Paduka Awang Haji Bahrin bin Abdullah said at the Legislative Council (LegCo) Meeting yesterday.
He explained that in line with the theme of the national budget for 2016-17, which is 'strengthening the economic climate to support continuous development', the ministry will emphasise on: business-and citizen-friendliness; generating and strengthening revenue from programmes and projects implemented; improving cash flow management which includes effective revenue collection and resolving arrear bill issues.
The ministry will also focus on increasing cost efficiency, either in terms of organisational costs or project implementation costs by prioritising the most important activities and emphasising the 'value for money' in implementing projects, he said.
Another focal area is the introduction of PPP (private-public-partnership) in implementing projects that are suitable and bankable by involving outside investors and financial experts from stakeholders. Emphasis will also be given on evaluating the suitability for corporatisation or privatisation of any potential service, the minister added.
In terms of deliverables, the minister also outlined several priorities that have become top in the agenda of the ministry, which include: making national housing programme sustainable which to ensure that eligible and really needy people benefit from it; optimum land use and planning focusing on supporting the country's socioeconomic activities; developing a more efficient process in accommodating public applications; introducing PPP in financing government projects such as the national housing programme, and construction of public amenities; organised human resources management to increase the number of competent and professional government officers; and developing a stronger capacity for contract management and legal enforcement.
Touching on housing issue, the minister said to date, 24,000 houses have been awarded to eligible recipients throughout the country.
The current challenges of the national housing programme include whether it can be sustainable due to the high level of subsidy; inability of some recipients to make repayment which is causing an increase in the amount of arrears; and the increasingly limited land available for the programme.
The minister said issues related to the housing programme is truly complex. To address these issues, a 'Housing Focus Group' was established with the approval of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, which involves several ministries and departments to assess the housing related matters in a holistic and comprehensive way and provide suggestions to improve the national housing programme.
According to the minister, a study on optimum land use and planning conducted as part of the Brunei Darussalam National Masterplan 2006-2025 found that only 5.5 per cent, or 32,000 hectares, of the country's land area, is considered 'easily developable'. Other areas need a more costly development and they include protected areas such as those reserved for water supply purposes as well as for the Heart of Borneo Initiative.
To support economic activities, to date, 1,533 hectares of land have been handed over to government agencies to promote industrial activities, while another 5,375 hectares have been identified for industrial use if needed, he noted.
Touching on delivering a more efficient public application process, the minister said his ministry is involved in various service deliveries to the public and will always try to improve its deliveries.
Touching on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business' report on Brunei, he said the services of the ministry analysed in the report were 'Registering Property' and 'Dealing with Construction Permit'.
The minister said even though Brunei is at 148th position in the category of registering property related to land transfer process, the reformation and improvement that had been done have reduced process time period from nearly 300 days reported by the World Bank to an average of 98 days for applications made as of December 2015, according to the latest data from the 'PENGGERAK Unit' at the Prime Minister's Office.
The minister added that the process will be further improved with the coming of an online system called the Land Application and Registration Information System or LARIS, a trial for which was made in February this year.
In the area of dealing with construction permit, Brunei stood at 21st place in the report. However, the public still lament the slowness in getting approval. The minister said with the enforcement of the Building Control Order 2014 on November 1, 2015, the processes to acquire development permit, permit to start development and permit to occupy is expected to be speeded up, especially for small and medium works.
He said the TPOR or Tekad Pemedulian Orang Ramai for the application for getting permit to start development has been reduced from seven days to one day. The ministry is also trying to find ways to ease the application process for occupation permit.
The minister said his ministry is currently assessing and listing out potential services and infrastructural projects that can be implemented through PPP.
Among the projects that have been identified as having potential to be carried out through PPP is the national housing programme and the water services, he added.
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by BruDirect.com
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