Public Consultation On Industrial Park
By Sobrina Rosli

Bandar Seri Begawan - Residents of Sungai Liang will get a chance next week to express their concerns about the impact of the Sungai Liang Industrial Park on their daily lives.

The Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) is holding public consultations on February 8 (1.30pm to 4.30pm) and on February 9 (gam and 4.30pm) at the Liang Lumut Recreation Club.

"This is part of our outreach programme for the community in conjunction with the development of the Sungai Liang Industrial Park," said Abdurahman Abdul Aziz, BEDB senior project officer for business development.

It is also intended to ensure that the community is well informed about the physical changes that are about to happen in their surroundings, he said, adding that residents in Sungai Liang, Belait district will have the chance to raise questions about the project.

`Before the (project) mobilisation, we want to play our part in informing the public as we want to have two-way communication and we are open to suggestions," he added.

"The public consultation will not only benefit the residents of the area but also commuters who come to work in the Kuala Belait district or for those who drive down to work in Bandar as road works will begin," he said.

BEDB has a vision of turning Sungai Liang into a world-class industrial park with shared infrastructure and utilities (including a power plant, water treatment plant and a jetty) through a single provider. The project is hoped to be fully operational in 2010.

It is estimated to draw US$1.3 billion of total investments and generate 1,065 permanent jobs.

BEDB has also taken the initiative of ensuring an Environmental Impact Assessment is carried out. It said that efforts have been taken to ensure the infrastructure and utilities meet international standards.

Halcrow Group Ltd was selected as the master planner in November 2004 and it has conducted an Environmental Impact Assessment that has already been reviewed and approved by the Ministry of Development.

Halcrow Group Ltd is a global company with in-house environmental and health and safety specialists. It will integrate civil and infrastructure expertise with specialist health, safety and environmental skills.

Halcrow was responsible for conceptualising, proposing and implementing a commercial/institutional framework to enable these downstream and spin-off projects in the park to have cost efficient access to the shared infrastructure and utilities.

It has also prepared a detailed master plan and layout for the whole site, incorporating the requirements of all the investment projects for optimum land usage. This includes determination of materials handling, transportation requirements, analysis and consolidation of inputs and outputs by investment projects for the site as a whole. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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