Brunei Airport Playing Hide And Seek Blows Hot And Cold
By Ignatius Stephen

Bandar Seri Begawan - The Brunei International Airport is blowing hot and cold as it plays hide and seek with ministers and permanent secretaries.

At least that is the impression people who work at the newly renovated terminal seem to get.

"When the minister or a permanent secretary happen to drop by everything seems to work perfectly. Once they leave things revert to 'normal' once again," complained an airline staff.

"The situation was getting so bad that some of us had to bring our own electric fans along to keep ourselves cool," remarked an airport counter staff.

And some shops at the transit lounge in the old airport terminal area deprived of basic facilities like air conditioning in the multi million dollar newly renovated building are still relying on electric stand fans to keep themselves getting hot and stuffy.

The problem seems to center around the old section of the spruced up terminal. The air-conditioning in the newer areas seems working well.

A new chiller was supposed to arrive from Singapore and installed in January.

"But now it is February and we are still suffering from considerable discomfort," remarked an airport staff.

Tourists are also complaining. A traveler who flew out three months ago noticed that the air conditioning at the airport lounge was not working.

"Now when I returned this week I found that the situation has still not improved. I am amazed that it was not fixed. It is a bad advertisement for Brunei," he remarked.

"It seems a typical example whereby the various ministries and different departments are unable get their act together to get things going.

"In this instance there seems to be lack of coordination between the Civil Aviation Department and the Electrical Department. It is the same old story of lack of cooperation among departments.

"Unless we can overcome this attitude the incidents like what the Brunei International Airport is saddled with will continue to happen," remarked an airport staff.

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