Infrastructure (Introduction)

 

National Development Plan of Brunei

The current National Development Plan 1996 - 2000 is the 7th in the series and primarily aims at giving an all-round enhancement to all facets of life of the people, with emphasis to economic diversification through the development of export-oriented non- oil based industries. The Government has allocated a total of $7.2 billion for this purpose, with social services taking the lion's share at $1.98 billion; Public Utilities, $1.58 billion; Transport and Communications, $1.4 billion; Industry and Commerce, $907.66 million; Public Buildings, $623.83 million; Security, $528.1 million; and Miscellaneous, $173.3 million.   Click to read more about the progress in the following sectors:- 

Communications | Education | Health | Housing

COMMUNICATIONS

Airport   
The present day Brunei International Airport, located at Berakas about fifteen minutes drive from Bandar Seri Begawan operates 24 hours a day, providing facilities for both regional and international air traffic. It has a 4000-metre runway that can accommodate any type of aircraft currently in service, including the 'Jumbo' 747s. Its passenger and cargo handling facilities can handle 1.5 million passengers and 50,000 tones of cargo a year. Equipped with the latest state-of the-art technology in surveillance and tracking, the airport boasts radar, flight and auxiliary data processing, 2,000-line, high-resolution color raster displays, simulation facilities, voice switching system, voice and data recording and VHF/UHF air-ground transmitters. The national air carrier is Royal Brunei Airlines founded in November 18, 1974.   Another airport, at Anduki near Seria, is used by the Brunei Shell Petroleum Company for its helicopter services.  

Ports  
The main Port is Muara, which is about 28 kilometers from Bandar Seri Begawan. The port can accommodate ships over 196 meters L.O.A. and take up to 7 or 8 vessels averaging 8,000 Gross Registered Tonnage {GRT} or a single ship of up to 30,000 {GRT} with a draught of not more than 9.5 meters.   Since 1973, the port has undergone extensive improvements. These include extensions to the wharf bringing the total length to 948 meters including 250 meters dedicated container wharf and 87 meters aggregate wharf. The overall storage space in the form of covered storage is 16,950 square meters, long storage warehouses 16,630 square meters and open storage space 5 hectares. Facilities for the dedicated container wharf covers an area of 92,034 square meters including 8,034 square meters covered areas.  Besides Muara Port,there are two smaller ports located one at Bandar Seri Begawan and one at Kuala Belait. The port at Bandar Seri Begawan is utilized by vessels under 93 meters LOA drawing less than 5 meters draught carrying conventional cargoes for direct deliveries and passenger launches plying between Bandar Seri Begawan, Limbang and Temburong. The wharf also accommodates various small government crafts. The port at Kuala Belait can accommodate vessels with draught of 4 meters which carries mainly general cargo for Kuala Belait and the Brunei Petroleum Shell Company.

Road 
The road network in Brunei Darussalam is the primary means of movement for people, goods and services on land. It plays a vital role in the overall growth and development of the State. The network has been designed to integrate housing, commercial and industrial development.  The Sultanate has constructed a good road network with various types of road throughout the country that includes highways, link roads, flyovers and round-abouts. A major road, which was completed in 1983, is a 28-kilometre highway linking Muara through Berakas and Jerudong to a point in Tutong, where it connects with the existing Bandar Seri Begawan-Tutong-Seria trunk road thus providing an alternative routes to these places.  An 11-km road between Sungai Teraban and Sungai Tujoh, makes the journey from Brunei  Darussalam to Sarawak's Fourth Division such as Miri and other parts of Sarawak much easier.  The State had 2,525 kilometers (km) of roads, of which 2,328 km were covered with asphalt, 187 with pebbles, and 10 km with concrete. Of the total 1,514 km were in Brunei/Muara, 481 km in Belait, 400 km in Tutong and 130 km in Temburong district.      

The government is well aware that the growing population of Brunei Darussalam needs to be given a high level of education. Thus, millions of dollars have been allocated for this purpose. At present there are 147 government schools and 60 non-government or private schools throughout the country. The formal school system has adopted a 6-3-2-2 pattern. This pattern represents primary secondary, lower secondary, upper secondary and pre-tertiary levels respectively. The Government has a school feeding scheme whereby meals are given to rural schools and light meals to those in the urban areas. Students who are not eligible for hostels accommodation get free transport to and from school. The establishment of the University Brunei Darussalam (UBD) in 1985 enables local to pursue degree courses in the State. The Government, however, continues to award scholarship to qualified Brunei Citizens for courses not available at UBD. At the moment more than 2,000 Bruneians including government scholarship holders are studying in Britain, USA, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Egypt, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries.    

The people of Brunei Darussalam enjoy free medical and health care which is provided via the government hospitals, health centres and health clinics throughout the whole country. In remote areas that are not accessible or access by land or water is difficult, primary health care is provided by the Flying Medical Services. Other than 4 government hospitals in each district, there are also 2 other private hospitals. The military has its own hospitals that cater for their own personnel and dependents. The largest and the main referral hospital in the country is Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha Hospital which is situated on a 32 acre site about 0.8 kilometer from the heart of the capital. The hospital was officially opened on 28 August 1984 with a cost of B$162 million, is equipped with modern and latest advances in medical technology. However patients who require very specialised treatment are sent abroad. Expenses for Brunei citizens are borne by the Government. The Public Health Services is the main division in the Ministry of Health that is responsible for providing community based preventive and promotive primary health care services in the country. Through its monitoring and surveillance activities and preventive programmes such as immunization programme, the country is free from major communicable diseases. Under WHO International Health Regulations those entering the country are required to obtain International Vaccination Certificate for yellow fever vaccination for travelers coming from infected areas.

The Government first allocated a provision for housing development under the 3rd National Development Plan, 1975-1979. The housing development, which is a continuous programme, is aimed at providing comfortable home for landless Brunei citizens especially government employees who are entitled to have housing loans. Another on-going government shelter project is the Landless Indigenous Citizens Housing Scheme (LICS), which also has eight sites in different parts of the country. Eight sites have been initially chosen for the National Housing Development Program (NHDP). They are the Lambak Kanan, Kampong Rimba, and Mentiri (Pengkalan Sibabau) in the Brunei/Muara District; Kampong Pandan, Sungai Liang and Lorong Tengah in the Belait District; Bukit Beruang in the Tutong District, and Kampong Rataie in the Temburong District. Due to the increasing number of applications and the pure commitment of His Majesty government to provide housing to its citizen, two other sites were added to the list. They are the Meragang and Tanah Jambu, both in the Brunei/Muara District. The site development works and construction of houses are both carried out in stages to facilitate occupation by the inhabitants progressively in a modern community with public amenities and service all within an attractively landscaped environment. At Brunei/Muara, since 1972 to 1997, more houses have been completed bringing the total of 3,255 houses. This include 2,056 houses in Lambak Kanan, 586 houses in Mentiri, and 613 houses in Kampong Rimba. Furthermore, the remaining houses under construction in Brunei/Muara are estimated about 1,088 houses. Likewise work are also in progress on the rest of the sites, where is a total of 1,412 houses have been completed. Of these, 831 houses are in Belait District, 504 houses have in Tutong District, and 77 in Temburong District. There are 121 houses under construction where 26 houses in Tutong and 95 houses in Temburong District. Meanwhile the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Foundation also provides housing for eligible citizens at the four districts of the country under its Housing Scheme. Two new villages in Kampong Ayer have been established namely Kampong Bolkian 'A' and Kampong Bolkiah 'B'. This housing scheme was set up specifically for citizens affected by disasters.