Houses in Brunei?.... in 15-20 years time

12,000 New Houses In 5 Yrs By Malek Hashim

Bandar Seri Begawan - The Ministry of Development has unveiled plans for the construction of more than 12,000 housing units for the national housing needs.

The housing units are under the Rancangan Perumahan Negara (RPN) or National Housing Scheme and Skim Tanah Kurnia Rakyat Jati (STKRJ) or Landless Indigenous Citizens Housing Scheme under the 2007-2012 National Development Plan, as well as residual housing under the previous National Development Plan.

Also in line with national sheltering strategy, the Infill Scheme and issuing of land titles to qualified recipients have been implemented since the 1980s. To date, more than 2,010 land titles have been issued and more will be issued in the future....

further reading (http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/Oct08/151008/nite01.htm)

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Is it realistic to assume that this can be done in 5 years?... as someone simply calculated, it would take 5 or 6 houses to be completed in a day for this to be realised... or about 300 houses per month...

Do you know the current rate of house production for the National Housing Scheme (NHS) in Brunei?

Its about 300 HOUSES PER YEAR!!! A YEAR, A YEAR, A YEAR... NOT A MONTH, A YEAR!!!!

Do you know what they need to do?

1. STOP giving contracts to the CHEAPEST "bumi" contractors who have totally NO experience other than wheel and deal to find the other cheapest incompetent contractor to do (sub to other contractors when they get the contract!!)

2. ENFORCE the rule which says that if they delay their job, they will be FINED up to certain amount of $$$ when projects are delayed

3. Govt also must ensure payment must be made ON TIME when its time to PAY contractors... It's no FUN to be taxed by the BANKS who take INTERESTS from the LOANS need to finance the projects....

Japanese Buffett in Melbourne A$28 per head

pre-order the oyster when you make booking...

Dessert....

Shop's Name: J's Surf and Turf,

133 Were Street, Brighton, Victoria 3186, Melbourne.

If you book from 6.30pm, you have to finish at 8.30pm, and the 8.30pm will finish till whenever you finish, i guess... hee..

Visiting Victoria 4

View from Mt. Dendenong

Visiting Victoria 3

Possibly the highest bridge in Melbourne, The West Gate Bridge ...

The view of Melbourne city from the top of the bridge... on the left of the picture, you can see the soon to be open Melbourne/Victoria Eye... just like London Eye..

Go to the left (green board line) if you dont want to get charged by the Citylink Toll... heee

Visiting Victoria 2

Visiting Victoria 1

An "attempted" trip down to the Great Ocean Road.... took us over 2 hours from Melbourne to reach Geloong/Lorne Road areas... but because it was rainy a bit and the thought of driving another 2 hours just to see the 12 Apostles (now left 7 rocks) wasnt that appealing... decided to turn back after that...

1st Entrepreneurs Award in Brunei - and Wu Chun gets it??

Well... surprise surprise...

Pehin Lau Ah Kok gets it - is not bad, afterall he's a well known figure in Brunei - the rags to riches story ... he deserved it... it's better late than never :-)

Hope there's a book publish on that - how's that - any aspiring writers out there who wants to write it? they should... I heard stories by uncles and aunties that when they were young, they used to steal from Ah Kok's car (he was like travelling salesman back then) - small items which I'm sure he knows what the kids did but did not take any action... hahah

The guy in the centre is Pehin ("Lord") Lau Ah Kok

The big surprise for me - Wu Chun, gets the "Young Entrepreneur of the Year" award.... how is that possible again?.... If he becomes Brunei's TOURISM representative, thats not bad (he IS that popular among his Taiwanese teenage fans and THE most well known (and the only ???) BRUNEIAN "ENTERTAINER" in East Asia and Southeast Asia) but entrepreneur?... I remembered reading that he wanted to bring the Taiwanese filming crew to Brunei but I guess, there are no nice mansions in Brunei that he used for his dramas... just the Empire Hotel is not enough...

He's an actor la, and ermmm singer.... (ok, i dont actually watch his dramas, cozz.... i dont know, coz i dont think its nice - hahha - no offense, he's a "pretty" boy... after one episode, cant tolerate watching the ending.. sorry... his latest "idol" drama as a supporting cast is Hot Shot, which is currently airing in Taiwan, and you can watch it in Youtube :-) Oh ya, I read that he used to study in RMIT, in Melbourne, so his English should be better than some Taiwanese actors, hahah...

Not that this is relevant to the topic but, but incase anyone wants to watch Taiwanese Dramas, the best ones are Fated to Love You, My Lucky Star and Korean's 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (or just Coffee Prince)... hahha... ehh... out banar...

The newslink to the award ceremony:
http://www.bt.com.bn/en/news/2008/08/30/bruneis_noted_entrepreneurs_honoured

Comparative Study...

Melbourne
One of the top cities that international students would love to go to. However, students on tight budgets might consider;

1. No transport concessions for students (unless you’re Australian citizen)

2. Rents are crazy – landlords can change and increase the rent prices every 6 months, hence students who can’t afford the rent has to move to a new place. Shifting houses is no joke because of other costs involved. Calculation of rent is different from Bribane, suffice to say, Brisbane rent calculation is cheaper compared to Melbourne.

3. Movie are not that cheap as those who get student concession in Brisbane

4. Internet download is based on the amount of info you downloaded! (at least still can download compared to Brunei’s e-speed la... heheh... BUT BUT can’t beat Manchester, UK where the download for anything is super SUPER super fast!)

5. Petrol price is around A$1.55 to A$1.70 per litre

6. Buses are not on time, worse during weekend (not that i’ve taken public transport in Brunei much, heheh). No shade on every bus stop!!! (as if it never rain!)

7. Train tickets (where you can use for buses and trams as well) are based on Zones, not on the distance. For example, in Singapore, the charges start from where your journey starts. In Melbourne, it depends on zone. So, if you’re in Zone 1 – city and to go to Zone 2 – which is where Clayton is, you will have to buy Zone 1+2 ticket. Not cost friendly.

8. Parking is expensive. So if you want to complain yayasan or parking bertingkat is expensive, come and try to park in Melbourne. 1 hour can cost up to $10 in the city!!!

9. People ask for money on trains and not even ashamed of it!!

10. Hmmm... why cant they build taller buildings outside the city? And Please... use better materials and workmanship for the construction. Baik lagi rumah yang d buat d Brunei, built by our expatriate workers atu – we haven’t thank them enough for our homes... right people??

Site and Scene of St. Kilda Beach, Melbourne

The Best and Worst Pie/Pastry in Aussie

The BEST (frozen) pies around are the SARGENTS brand of pies....

The WORST pasties around is the HERBERT ADAMS's pastry (misleading advertisement on TV!!!!) Couldnt even stomach the content!!!!

Victoria Market, Melbourne

So now we appreciate Supasave prices as the prices here are not that cheap either... higher living standard, higher food prices... its a cycle.

Melbourne, Australia

Hotel Windsor in Melbourne

Monash University, Caulfield Campus (next to the Caulfield train station, its in Zone 1)

Ikea at Richmond...

Scenes from Victoria Market

ps. been to the McDonald restaurant, dont understand why they dont have wash basin to wash hand. Where's the cleanliness and hygiene of a big city?

Brunei's B$202 Million Subsidy

What Is Foregone For The $202mil Subsidy
By Za'im Zaini

Bandar Seri Begawan - A total of 2,880 units of low-cost housing, 20 health centres, 12 schools, 170km of new roads, 100,000 new computers for schools and 1,400 scholarships for students on a first degrees course overseas.

That is the estimate the government could have spent on instead of the $202 million that the government pays in subsidies for gasoline and diesel (2007 stats). This was among what was revealed in a pamphlet distributed yesterday during the Subsidy Awareness Campaign launched at the Gadong petrol station. Present M guest of honour was Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Yahya Minister of Energy at the Prime Minister's Office.

The event began with a welcoming speech from Hj Zolkiflee Hj Abdul Karim, Acting Director for Petroleum Unit. This was followed by the minister launching the awareness campaign by distribution of pamphlets and an informative poster.

The pamphlet also reveals that the amount $202 million in subsidies for gasoline and diesel is the highest figure paid by the government ever since the introduction of subsidies in 1978.

The subsidies paid for 2007 on premium 97 gasoline per litre is $0.3293, super 92 is $0.3207 per litre, regular $0.4127 and diesel $0.4990.

At the moment according to current market price, subsidies paid on premium 97 gasoline per litre is $0.49, super 92 is $0.48 per litre, regular $0.55 per litre and diesel $0.67 per litre.

Gasoline remains the highest in petroleum products used as in 2007 with over 250 million litres while in 2006 it was more than 300 million litres. Diesel use last year was less than 250 million litres usage and slightly above 200 million litres.

Brunei's price for gasoline is the lowest priced in the region per litre at a rate of $0.53 per litre as well as diesel at $0.31 per litre.

Thus, the public is urged to plan their journeys more wisely, use the bicycle or are encouraged to walk, to slow down, to make sure the car engine is in good condition — to name a few of the tips given.

The campaign is to inform the public on the price difference between subsidy and commercial, amount of government subsidy and also practical tips on how to save on gasoline and diesel usage. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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B$16.8 million for one school

B$10 million for one health centre
B$1.1 million per km of road
B$144,000 for an overseas degree
B$70,000 each for a perpindahan house
B$2,020 for a computer

One wonders how much does the government spent on rentals to house public servants? It must run into millions of dollars as well. If these are taken into account as well, am sure that the government can save a lot of money.

But while saving money is most important, one do wonder that if the savings are made, will the money actually go to build or pay for the infrastructure? Why then do you hear that contractors are not paid on time? I remembered hearing that the cleaners in govt institutions were not even paid on time, and mind you, how much do these people actually earn? Sigh... so many things to "clean up" before all those saving will really benefit the whole society.

Birthday Buffet at SKR... (Seri Kemayan Restaurant)

Dont Forget the Egg..."I got the most ballons... U cant have it.."

The balloon maker..

Longevity noodle...
Lamb...

The fish

The Chicken

The Prawns