| James Kon |
SABAH’S Ministry of Local Government and Housing is to come up with a guideline for settlements in waters within their state, with the ministry looking to learn from the well-managed system of Brunei Darussalam’s Kampong Ayer.
Permanent Secretary of Sabah’s Ministry of Local Government and Housing Hajah Masnah binti Matsalleh said this during an interview yesterday afternoon on the sidelines of her visit to the water village and Taman Mahkota Jubli Emas in Bandar Seri Begawan.
Hajah Masnah is leading a delegation from the ministry and a group of staff and officials from the Sabah Town and Regional Planning Department and the Sabah Town Board on an official visit to Brunei Darussalam from December 17-19.
“Our aim in visiting Brunei is to understand the procedure in planning and settlements at Kampong Ayer, because we are facing issues of settlements on water such as fire outbreaks and sewage problems,” the permanent secretary said. “The water settlements in Sabah are spread out and there is no control. We hope to come up with guidelines for this area.”
Hajah Masnah added that Sabah is looking to learn from the Government of Brunei Darussalam on the administration and planning for Kampong Ayer, which she understands “has been done in a very systematic way”.
She added that through the visit, Sabah is looking into further collaboration with the Bruneian government.
“We can send our planners here for training and we can invite Brunei’s Ministry of Development to Sabah as well, as we are interested in cooperation,” Hajah Masnah said. “We can send our planners here for training and we can invite officials from Brunei to visit Sabah to learn how we promote tourism in our state.”
Prior to visiting Kampong Ayer, Hajah Masnah and her delegation made a tour of Taman Mahkota Jubli Emas in the capital’s heart.
“This is an amazing park. I would like to congratulate the Government of Brunei for having such a nice park for the people,” she said. “It’s a very good idea for the people particularly in encouraging them to practise healthy living. Especially after their prayers, people can go out for physical activities at the park. I hope we can have one in Sabah. Bruneians are very lucky.”
Accompanying the Sabah delegation were Permanent Secretary (Municipal and District) at the Ministry of Home Affairs Salminan bin Haji Burut and Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Development Dr Nor Imtihan binti Haji Abdul Razak.
From Taman Mahkota Jubli Emas, the visitors took a boat ride to Kampong Peramu, and then visited the Kampong Ayer Cultural and Tourism Gallery before stopping by one of the houses under the Kampong Ayer upgrade pilot project.
There, the Sabah delegation viewed a demo on a house vacuum pump for the water village’s systematic sewage system. The group next visited Kampong Sungai Bunga and toured facilities such as the village’s recreational areas, rubbish disposal and security systems, as well as other amenities.
Today, the delegation will visit the National Housing Scheme of Lugu.