BSB As 21st Century Capital City

BSB As 21st Century Capital City
By Azlan Othman

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei Darussalam is mulling the possibility for the capital city, Bandar Seri Begawan, to have a world-class facility with university campus, first-class condominium and business facilities especially in the field of Islamic finance. It is also hoped that BSB would become a sustainable city for people with an eco-friendly concept.

Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs Dato Paduka Awang Serbini Hj Ali highlighted this to a group of foreign diplomats in the country in a briefing on consultancy services for the preparation of BSB Development Master Plan, yesterday.
BSB has recently expanded its municipal boundary 10 times to cover an area of 100.36 sq km.

The BSB Municipal Department intends to prepare a Bandar Seri Begawan Development Master Plan, which shall be based on its vision and strategic objectives to guide the future development of the capital city.

The government envisions to bring BSB city on par with other world cities and finds the need for a master plan to prepare BSB as a 21st Century capital city to integrate existing new growth centers, rationalize emerging pattern of developments by government and private

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sectors, as well as to ensure that development is carried out in a progressive and sustainable way.
The BSB Development Master plan shall be a comprehensive one providing solid and clear development strategies that will serve as a guidance or reference for the city's future development.

Meanwhile, suitably qualified consultancy firms are being invited to submit their Expression of Interests (EOI) which shall describe in detail the type of relevant skills, experience, levels of expertise or any other capabilities they have to meet the project requirements.

The EOI should also provide information on the firm's experience and track record on similar projects, qualifications and experience of key personnel, including CVs, photographs and reports of sample work.

Expression of Interests together with relevant documents must be submitted not later than December 27, 2008 to the Secretariat, Committee to Appoint Consultants for the Ministry of Home Affairs, 5th floor at JIn James Pearce.

During the briefing, the foreign diplomats asked about the last master plan, which was made in 1997.

It was also revealed that works on the BSB waterfront is now being carried out in stages where parking spaces will be phased-out and the public can utilize the Yayasan and multi storey car park.

Incentives offered by the municipal authorities to foreign consultancy firms like logistics, office, transportation and other assistances were also highlighted.

The proposal for the capital boundary and main zones of the Municipal Department were also highlighted, as well as four plans around the capital namely Kg Ayer improvement plan, Kg Ayer hill park plan, BSB central and Gadong improvement plan area and Subok. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin