| Among the contents laid out in the Executive Summary of The Department of Economic Planning and Development publication of the "Brunei Darussalam Long-Term Development Plan" are:
- The National vision, known as Wawasan Brunei 2035, aims to turn the Sultanate into a nation widely recognised for:
1) the accomplishment of its well-educated and highly-skilled citizens as measured by the highest international standards,
2) the quality of life that is among the top 10 in the world, and
3) the dynamic and sustainable economy with income per capita within the top 10 in the world.
- In the previous four of RKN (1986-2005), development efforts were focused on the objectives:
1) to improve quality of life of the people,
2) to maximise the economic utilization of national resources,
3) to develop non-oil industries,
4) to accelerate human resources development, maintain full employment and increase the level of productivity,
5) to maintain a moderate rate of inflation,
6) to foster a more disciplined, self-reliant and caring society,
7) to encourage and nurture the development of Rakyat Melayu as leaders of industry and commerce, and
8) to have a clean and healthy environment.
- In the economic front, progress has been inconsistent where the nation's economy showed signs of weakness, after some period of growth in the early 1990s, particularly in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.
Given the heavy reliance of the Sultanate's economy on fiscal stimulus, the delay in the implementation of the development projects has contributed to lower economic growth and this limits the effectiveness of the Government's fiscal stimulus strategy.
Hence, one of the key challenges to accelerate economic growth rates during RKN 2007-2012 is therefore to enhance the national capacity to carry out development initiatives.
- Tourism is one of the sectors that has been identified as the potential revenue generating sectors with three sectoral targets to be achieved, namely:
1) to increase tourist arrivals staying in paid- accommodation by at least seven per cent annually,
2) to increase the average hotel occupancy rates to 50-60 per cent by 2008, and
3) to increase the tourism-related employment by 50 per cent by 2010.
- Transport and communication sector will focus on the implementation of new infrastructures and on improving the utilisation of existing facilities with emphasis on:
1) better delivery, safety and quality of services,
2) cutting down of travel time,
3) opening up new access to various locations in the country
It is hoped that this sector will contribute further to enhance the country's economic efficiency.
- Social services sector has been allocated 32.2 per cent of the total scheme value of RKN 2007-2012. The Government will accelerate the construction of public housing with efforts focusing on improving the planning and coordination.
- In the area of health, various programmes will be geared towards strengthening the healthcare management and delivery. The development in this sector will focus on:
1) National health emergencies preparedness,
2) Improvement of health quality, management and staff's proficiencies,
3) Improvement in hospital services and facilities, and
4) Improvement in primary health care services.
- The education sector, under HRD, will focus on improving the quality and accessibility of education and the promotion of life-long learning culture.
- Implementation of research and development (R&D) is another important feature in the RKN 2007-2012. Investment in R&D is aimed at narrowing the gaps that exist between Brunei Darussalam and its neighbouring countries in the field of science, technology and innovation.
Meanwhile, focuses on other sectors are:
- Environment: A new Environment Act will strengthen the protection of the environment and ensure sustainable management of the country's national resources, whereby projects will include introduction of new technologies in waste management, urban and rural planning, and public awareness programmes.
- Public Utilities: Focus on the provision of continuous, reliable, adequate and quality water and electricity supply where projects will include increasing the generation capacity in the electricity sector through the construction of a new power plant and rejuvenation of existing ones.
- Science, Technology and Innovation (STI): Focus on strengthening the STI institutional setup and arrangement, strengthening the existing STI infrastructure, financing STI research and promotion, and human capacity-building from primary to tertiary level.
- ICT: Focus on integrating e-Government programmes to enable provision of quality online customer services and additionally emphasis will also be given on enhancing local SMEs through e-Business, and building human and institutional capacity in ICT application.
- Security: Allocation of around 6.3 per cent during the period will focus on improving the existing infrastructure, and building new infrastructure and facilities.
The Government will implement the Privatisation Masterplan which will provide the vision, policy, strategy and long-term privatisation programme for this country, including guidelines on planning, coordination, implementation and monitoring of the programme.
Changes have to be made by the Ggovernment in the way the RKN fund is determined, calculated and allocated due to the shifts in development thinking, the need to bring RKN 2007-2012 programmes and projects in line with OSPD, and the imperative to stimulate economic growth while ensuring value for money.
Determination of budget across sectors are based on three criteria, namely:
1) The impact of the particular sectors on economic growth and employment,
2) The relevance of each sector to the broader development objectives (the Wawasan Brunei 2035 and the OSPD), and
3) The implementation capacity and track record of each RKN sector. |
