| Azlan Othman |
A MAJOR project, covering 55,000 hereditaments with over 18,000 residential and commercial lots, is currently being carried out until March 31, 2017, to gather data on three municipalities in Brunei Darussalam, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) yesterday.
In a press briefing, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the MoHA Haji Mohammad Sunadi bin Haji Buntar said that the ‘Property Inventory Database (PID)’ is intended as an information update to meet the ministry’s target of having a more organised and systematic database.
“We can access information on tax on property industry and Municipal Board plans through this data,” he said.
“We target five to six properties in a day and the task needs to be finished within the specific period. Public cooperation is required in order to facilitate the data gathering.”
MoHA Project Manager Hajah Rashidah binti Haji Ghani told the media that data collectors usually hand out appointment notices to property owners, which enables them to conduct inspections of houses, lands, buildings or tenements within the three municipalities.
“We interview the property owners but if they are not home due to work commitments, we will leave the form in their post box to be filled out and submitted during the next visit,” she said, adding that the data collectors are easily recognised by their authorised identification cards and uniforms when visiting houses and buildings.
Deputy Permanent Secretary at the MoHA Haji Mohammad Sunadi bin Haji Buntar, centre, at the media briefing. – PHOTOS: AZLAN OTHMAN
Officials carrying out the project are identified by their badges and vest.
“An estimated 55,000 hereditaments across the country are involved in this project,” she said.
“In the Bandar Seri Begawan municipality, we calculated around 40,000 hereditaments with 13,314 property lots, while in Belait and Seria, we identified around 15,531 hereditaments with 5,177 lots, and 255 hereditaments with 85 lots in Tutong.
Only the Bandar Seri Begawan, Belait, Seria and Tutong municipalities are covered in the project, with Bangar in Temburong being exempted since it does not fall within the boundaries of a Municipal Board.
The updating process began in the Tutong District in October 2015. Last June, 156 PID project staff members were appointed under the guidance of 10 supervisors of the Municipal Department.
Meanwhile, when asked about the latest developments, an official-in-charge said that many property owners had to be briefed on the procedures since many were uninformed about what the project involved, including the measuring and photographing of their houses or property.
Under Chapter 57 Section 20 (2) of the Municipal Board Act, anyone refusing to provide correct information regarding rental returns, or prevents appointed personnel from inspecting houses, lands, buildings or tenements shall be fined $3,000.
For more details the public is advised to call MoHA at 2232225, the Bandar Seri Begawan Municipal Department at 2244151, the Kuala Belait and Seria Municipal Department at 3337081, and the Tutong Municipal Department at 221232 during office hours from 8am to 12pm and from 1.30pm to 4.30pm.
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