06 March 2011
Written by Azaraimy HH
Bandar Seri Begawan - Members of the Legislative Council continued to enquire on several topics of interest with the Cabinet Ministers during the Legislative Council session on Saturday.
The topics included rice security; overcrowding and long waits at the Department of Immigration and National Registration, budget allocation for the Mukim and Village Consultative Council and the making of a city for Bandar Seri Begawan.
"Thanks be to Allah, the Government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam has started importing rice from Vietnam and established a cooperation with Vietnam and Cambodia in an effort to enhance the nation's security on rice."
This was the answer given by the Minister of Finance II at the Prime Minister's Office, YB Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Setia Dato Seri Setia Awg Hj Abdul Rahman bin Hj Ibrahim in responding town enquiry on the government's food security effort from a Member of Representatives, YB Awg Hj Mohd Shafiee bin Ahmad during yesterday's LegCo session.
The Minister added that Brunei hopes that a problem relating to import facilities with Cambodia will be settled this year, in order for Brunei to start importing rice from that country.
Relating to the matter, representative member YB Awg Hj Sulaiman bin Hj Ahai asked how long the rice reserve at the State Store would last if something were to happen.
YB Pehin Dato Hj Abd Rahman in response assured the representative members that if something were to happen, the rice reserve will be enough, including the reserve taken from local paddy cultivation.
Later, another was enquiry made by YB Awg Hj Sulaiman bin Hj Ahad, a representative member of the Temburong District, in regards to the "One Village One Product" (AVOP) effort. YB Awg Hj Sulaiman bin Hj Ahad also suggested the establishment of a marketing agency responsible for the promotion and marketing of local products.
In response, the Minister of Home Affairs, YB Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Hj Awg Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Hj Awg Othman said that AVOP, which is an initiative of the Ministry of Home Affairs, is being implemented actively, and that it is the hope of the government to develop them further.
According to the minister, the Ministry of Home Affairs has identified 38 villages throughout the country, 16 of which are in Temburong District, to have the potential to be further developed.
However, the activities are still considered "small scale", and the focus now is to increase the volume of production.
His Majesty's Government, said the Minister, has recently brought in experts from Japan to provide advisory visits to the villages, but the priority today is not about establishing a marketing agency but increasing the volume to meet demands.
YB Awg Hj Mohd Shafiee binAhmad also enquired on the methods used by the Ministry of Home Affairs in allocating the current budget of B$200,000.00 for the Mukim and Village Consultative Council, asking whether it will be in accordance with the projects being implemented by respective mukims and villages.
Separately at the session, representative member YB Awg Hj Bakar bin Mansor raised a public complaint about overcrowding and long waiting times at the Personal Identification Card-Making Centre at the Department of Immigration and National Registration.
According to YB Awg Hj Bakar, some people complained that they had to wait three or four hours, and that some had to return to the department in the afternoon to continue the wait.
The Minister of Home Affairs, in response, assured the representative members that the budget will be distributed to all projects, including those that are still under "survival" evaluation.
The Minister said it is not easy to distribute them fairly.
For example, if the budget is to be distributed to 48 villages for their respective projects, with each village receiving B$5,000, the Minister asked if anything can be done with only $5,000 for a village.
To further illustrate the matter, the Minister gave the example of a current project in Tanjong Maya that involves the production of "Kelapa Dara" (coconut), the demand for which is fairly high.
The project needs to purchase a dryer machine which costs nearly $80,000.00, he said.
In another matter, the Minister of Home Affairs said the Waterfront project in Bandar Seri Begawan will become operational not too long from now, with preparations for the project in the final stages.
In answering an enquiry from YB Dato Paduka Awg Hj Idris bin Hj Abas on the implementation of the BSB Master Plan, the Minister of Home Affairs said the master Plan has short-term, medium-term and long-term objectives to meet the goals of Brunei's Vision 2035.
It is hoped that the completed master plan will become road map for the development of Bandar Seri Begawan towards 2035.
He said transforming the BSB master plan into a statutory document is one of the suggestions to be put forward to the planning committee in future. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
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