This is just a comment on the recent articles that came out from your issues dated 1st July and 30th June 2005 regarding cement supply in Brunei.

We wish to correct some of the information about cement consumption, quality and the purported cement shortage on the reported article entitled "Cheaper Thai cement for Solving Shortage" for proper and fair information of the public and the government authorities.

Supply of Cement

Our local cement producer Butra HeidelbergCement Sdn Bhd has a production capacity of 500K Metric tons (MT) per year or around 42k per month. The current cement consumption of 20k to 21k per month is only 50% of the production capacity of the plant.

We therefore assure that there will be a continuous, convenient, fresh and quality supply 62.5-cement to contractors.

Quality Issue

It was also mentioned that the local contractors are importing 62.5-grade cement from Thailand. We are aware of the fact that the recently imported cement quality just complies to ASTM C150 TYPE III, but does not specifically mention that it is a 62.5- Grade Cement.

Cement Consumption

Another article dated 30th June 2005 mentioned about cement consumption passing "0.25 million metric tons" or 250k tons for this year. Here are the real facts and figures.

Actual current average cement consumption in Brunei for the past 5 years (year 2000-2004) is only around 19.5k tones per month; this translates to only around 235k tonnes per year.

With the expected improvement of construction industry in Brunei this year, as the current trend indicates, cement consumption is projected to increase by around 10k to 15k tonnes this year which is equivalent to around 4% to 6% increase from previous year's average yearly tonnage mentioned above.

We hope that the government will continue to support the development and growth of local industries in Brunei particularly those industries (like cement industry) that are vital to its future infrastructure development in line with the efforts to diversify the economy in a real sense.

- Ardi Widjaja
- General Manager
- Butra HeidelbergCement Sdn Bhd

In response to the comments about the recent basketball tournament aired by 'Angry Fan' on 22nd June, I would like to express my point of view on the incidents, as a neutral person who observed all the four games.

I personally feel the 'Angry Fan' was only writing about the team, which he or she was supporting. This is because, he or she only mentioned about the last two games, which was between Kuala Belait and Temburong as well as Tutong and BSB but not the other matches.

The incident that happened between Kuala Belait and Temburong mentioned by 'Angry Fan' is not factual. What actually happened in the game was the player was about to be punched but not punched as mentioned. During the match, the referee had also taken action on the aggressor by giving a warning and banning him from playing three out of the four quarters.

In the other game between Tutong and BSB, when the Tutong player committed an offensive foul, the referee should have called for a second offensive foul. However, the advantage rule was opted by the referee. In my opinion, the public should not criticise the committee members but rather look into the weakness of the losing team and try to improve the game.

- Neutral viewer

RTB is fast approaching its 30th anniversary but production of some of its programmes has not improved at all. Instead it seems to go from bad to worse.

Take for example a comedy shown on June 21 entitled Tamu. I thought we try to portray good over evil but the drama showed that bad deeds triumph over good deeds. Those who watched it will understand my view on this. This drama also had actors shouting/screaming most of the time and one character kept on saying 'Parutmu'. It is just not Bruneian.

I hope this Hari Raya more local programmes will be produced and telecast and not show the ROBOCON competition during the festive season like they did last year. I'm sure there are still a lot of local talents that can be invited to perform.

The news too is not consistent. I don't understand the need to show several Asean items (not really newsworthy) during the National News.

Sometime back an important news was shown by CNN (Breaking News) at about 5.15pm. But that same news was only telecast by RTB the next day.

I hope we'll get better and interesting local programmes with credible presenters. We support RTB but you need to improve.

- Penonton Kecewa

I applaud the sponsors for successfully bringing the Barney Concert to Brunei last month. Indeed, it cheered up my children and must have had the same effect on other children in Brunei as well.

But next time please choose a better venue. We paid $40 to see the show and it left most of the crowd especially children sweating since the spotlights were warming up the crowd.

A lot of children were crying because of the warm and humid condition. Some parents with children had to leave because their children were crying due to the heat.

Organisers, please choose a proper venue since it is children who watch the concert.

- Abd Masmin B Haji Abd Mumin
- Aviation Technician

I am a resident of Spg 845 in Kg Jangsak, Gadong. It has been more than two years since our main road has been in its sorry state with potholes and unlevelled road surface.

I speak on behalf of the people residing in this simpang. We urge the relevant department to look into this problem permanently. There are many houses in the area and we do not want to repair our cars for no fault of ours. I am wondering why other simpangs in Kg Jangsak have good roads but not ours. Do we miss anything that is a criteria?

There is also another factor that has contributed to this problem. Heavy vehicles use the road on a daily basis turning potholes into craters. I hope the appropriate department will look into this matter that has been going on for so many years and rectify our problems.

- Frustrated Resident

Call us to know about changes in basketball rules

We would like to thank 'Angry Fan' for bringing up the issues about 'Unfair Refereeing in national Basketball Games' published in the Opinion page of the Borneo Bulletin on 22nd June.

The Brunei Basketball Association would like to bring to light on the changes in the FIBA basketball rules and regulation in recent years.

The new rules and regulations have been implemented by the association from year 2004 and the public might not have understood the new ruling under the FIBA regulation, which clears the referee from any wrongdoing.

Should the public have any inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact the Brunei Basketball Association and the staff who will be willing to answer any queries.

Furthermore, the concerned person is also welcome to become part of the committee to gain an in-depth understanding of the latest information on basketball rules.

- The Brunei Basketball Association

I was most interested to read the letter, signed "Concerned", in the Borneo Bulletin of 25th June. This letter mentioned the problems and potential danger of a leaky and slippery aerobridge, and the impression this would give visitors coming to Brunei.

My wife and I were visitors to Brunei last week, arriving at the airport for a stay of four days in Brunei. It was not raining as we arrived, so we did not experience the problem highlighted in that letter, but our initial impression upon arriving at the airport were nevertheless very negative, I regret to say. We had no idea how we were going to reach our hotel, but were certain that there would be a tourist information desk to help us. We wandered around the airport but could find nothing of the sort.

Finally we found a poster about taxi services, indicating a flat fee of $25 to our hotel. We spoke to a taxi driver, who told us that the poster was not correct and that the fare was now $35. He pointed to a scruffy piece of paper that was posted at the bottom of the main notice, which was not translated into English (although the main notice was in English), but which he said indicated that the notice was no longer correct.

We felt, as arriving visitors, that we were just being seen as targets to be "fleeced". I walked across to the nearby bus terminal to see whether there was a bus to the hotel, but there was no information about routes or timetables. My wife's reaction by this time was that she wished we could just get straight on a plane home there and then. In the end we took one of these exorbitant taxis, and it was in a poor state, one of the rear door was not working, and our suitcase was jammed in the front seat.

We are not moaners, and when we did eventually get to our hotel we had a most enjoyable few days, visiting several places of interest, enjoying the country, and finding everyone we met very friendly. All this could have been spoiled by the very poor facilities at the airport, its lack of provision for arriving visitors and, to our mind, the expensive and misleading taxi services.

Brunei has much to offer foreign visitors, and we have read that the country is eager to promote tourism. We are in the travel business in the UK ourselves, so we take a particular interest in this, and would hope to be able to recommend Brunei as a destination to our customers. Please press your airport authorities to join in this process with a decent information facility, and the taxi operators to provide up-to-date, correct information and reasonable fares (the town taxis were nothing like the expensive airport ones). That will help visitors to get their holiday off to a good start!

We look forward to our next visit to Brunei to see improvements at the airport!

- Steve Dawson
- Norwich, UK

The prestigious golf tournament held recently in Brunei has made us all proud. It has also boosted Brunei's tourism.

Why not host more sports events that could lure tourists to Brunei. Let's say, Formula 1 Boat racing, Brunei Open Go Kart Racing, Brunei Open Car Sprint Racing, Temburong 4x4 Challenge and there are more one could think of.

Surely it could benefit a lot of people since tourists will come and stay in Brunei. Hotels will be busy. And Brunei could become a famous sporting destination.

Hopefully relevant parties could think of other ideas to promote tourism in Brunei.

- BruneiSport

Recently there were some comments regarding stray dogs and what are we to do with them. To me, in the first place, stray dogs or cats just do not simply appear out of nowhere but we the humans are somehow to be blamed.

Some pet owners abandon puppies/kittens as they do not want the extra burden of keeping these young ones. So these abandoned animals multiply rapidly, thus you have stray dogs and cats multiplying and causing problems. It is not these animals' fault, they too have to find food to survive.

We Bruneians, well known as 'prihatin', have to do something to help solve this problem. Maybe the concerned authority can build an animal shelter or establish the SPCA.

Besides having some fulltime staff, I'm sure many animal lovers would be glad to help out as volunteers (including myself).

- Penyayang, Berakas