Town and country planning in Brunei

Town and country planning in Brunei

ROZAN YUNOS
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Sunday, March 23, 2008

IN BRUNEI, the land use planning system normally known as Town and Country Planning is the planning system by which the government seeks to maintain a balance between economic development and environmental quality. Its official history in Brunei is relatively recent.

However land use planning can be said to have been in existence as early as 1906 when McArthur, the first British Resident in Brunei declared that everyone should live on dry land rather than on the water as has been the tradition for last few hundred years.

Before WWII, the government's preoccupation was to get a viable and financially independent government and a modern administration and not much focused on planning and development. The government's land policy then was to establish ownership of land in the country and the disbursement of those lands later.

Before the discovery of oil, most lands were used for rubber plantations. There was a scramble for land for rubber planting by the mid-1920s. The government encouraged people from Kampong Ayer to settle on dry land and take up agriculture. In the 1930s large areas of forests were designated as "forest reserves" — totalling about 42 per cent of the country's areas. When oil was discovered in Seria, one of the first tasks BMPC, the predecessor company to Brunei Shell faced was to build an infrastructure.

After WWII, reconstruction was essential. But that was delayed as there were shortages of all kinds: materials, machinery, shipping, labour, artisans and professionals including "town planners" as stated by Horton in his paper entitled "The British Residency in Brunei 1906-1959".

A new town plan was prepared for the capital during 1947 and it was hoped to make a "serious start" on the work of reconstruction in 1948. Kuala Belait got its own plan in 1949 but the Seria model was not approved until 1950. Roads, buildings, padang, shophouses and open spaces were carefully provided for in the town plans.

The first Brunei Development Plan 1953-1958 was all embracing and with over $100 million to be spent in those first five years. The emphasis was on the implementation of resettlement schemes, the expansion of education and medical services, the provisions of water supplies, and the improvement of agriculture and fisheries.

It also called for major extensions of roads and communication, bridges, buildings, power stations and installation of broadcasting and telephone system.

The plan was a major departure from the ad hoc manner previous British Residents generally spent money.

In 1958, Borneo Bulletin reported that "rarely has a place changed its appearance so quickly as quickly as Brunei Town.

"Gone are most of the shacks — apart from the seemingly permanent hovels of Kampong Ayer — of former years, and in their places, have arisen the steel and concrete buildings of a more modern age — offices, shops, restaurants and similar enterprises".

With the existence of subsequent Five-year National Development Plans, the need to establish a proper authority was certainly required. A Town and Country Planning Authority was considered vital in order to guide the direction of Brunei's physical development efforts.

In September 1965, the State Secretariat who is responsible for the development plan established a Development Department and created the first Town and Country Planning Officer post with several other staffing including a draughtsman and a technical assistant.

Directions were also given by His Majesty Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Saadul Khairi Waddien for the appointment of a consulting Town Planning firm, Messrs Alister MacDonald and Partners to initiate work on an Outline Development Plan for Bandar Brunei (subsequently Bandar Seri Begawan) pending the recruitment of a qualified Brunei Town Planning Officer. The preparation of the plan was in response to the rapid development that was taking place in BSB. The plan was completed and forwarded to the Development Department.

A seconded officer from the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in UK arrived in Brunei to implement the Outline Development Plan, to prepare a zoning plan and to prepare physical plans for the whole country. A Town Planning Section was formed within the Development Department.

However the first plan was not able to be implemented fully and as a result of a paper presented to the Council of Ministers, it was felt that the Town Planning Section be detached to be the Town and Country Planning Department. This was formed on 1st January 1972.

A British expatriate was appointed as the first Commissioner of Town and Country Planning Department. He was then assisted by a staff of six and operated out of a small office at Jalan Kumbang Pasang. On September 19, 1972, the legislation "Town and Country Planning Order" (TCPO) was enacted which marked the beginning of real planning work.

With the 1972 Order, the department was able to play a pivotal role in guiding and controlling development in areas declared as Development Control Areas.

Several Planning schemes were produced such as Muara Planning Scheme and Gadong Planning Scheme. Two authorities — Development Control Competent Authority (DCCA) and Subdivision Control Competent Authority (SCCA) were formed. Originally both were chaired by the Commissioner of Town and Country Planning but since January 1996 the Surveyor General chaired the SCCA.

Prior to independence, Brunei faced the challenges of a new and independent nation. The need for a comprehensive framework to guide the process of physical development became evident during the 1970s and 1980s. Population growth, traffic volumes, public utilities and urban housing dominated the needs of the populace.

In 1983 the Town and Country Planning Department moved to the Public Works Department building at the Old Airport Government Complex. Internally, the department also formed the Landscape Section in that same year.

With Brunei's independence in 1984, the department came under the auspices of the Ministry of Development until today. In 1985 the Government noted the need for the preparation of the National Master Plan and called out for one to be commissioned. The preparation of this plan was carried out by an international consultant and was completed at the end of 1987.

The main aims included the preparation of a comprehensive physical and conceptual framework for the realisation of national objectives; the identification of optimum locations for a full range of land uses; and the preparation of statutory physical development plans covering the whole of Brunei. It was to secure the best use of the country's scarce land resource, and to establish an orderly framework for physical development over a 20 year period.

The enlargement of Bandar Seri Begawan also forced the planners to rethink what our capital should be and whether the old plans are still viable and workable.

Town and Country Planning faced many challenges in the future. The Town Planners need to be aware of the need to plan more and to explore creative mechanisms in order to improve the state of the country's urban and rural areas. But it is not just planners, everyone in the country need to share the roles in national planning and development. It takes focus, unity, creativity and commitment to attain goals and achievements in our efforts to build the nation.

The writer runs a website on Brunei at bruneiresources.com.

The Brunei Times