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Mapping In Brunei

The kingdom of Brunei Darusallam on Borneo played host to the South East Asia Survey Congress last week (8 SEASC; Bandar Seri Begawan, 22-25 November). Its current use of spatial information is miniscule, but the ambition of this oil-rich nation to be a major player is huge.

The conference was well supported by the local government. The minister for development, Pehin Dato Paduka Awang Abdullah, opened the conference. Also present were other government ministers, and the president of the Federation Internationale des Geometres, Holger Magel.

FIG is the peak body representing surveyors internationally.

Dato Abdullah noted that control of land has always been recognised as the primary source of power, social status and wealth. He said that recognising land occupancy was a key issue in poverty alleviation and sustainable development, especially given the formidable environmental problems on Borneo.

The government has made almost no use of spatial technology up till now, except in its survey department, which is concerned with cadastral matters. It has moved to leap-frog years of development with the implementation of a modern spatial data infrastructure. This will be a key part of the government's information strategy and key to the implementation of e-government in the country.

Tenders for the contract to implement the new infrastructure closed last week, and will probably be announced early in the new year. The contract is notionally valued at $10 million.

Apart from supply of hardware, software and data conversion, the project also involves training of more than 430 government officials.

The new SDI will be administered by the Survey Department in the Ministry of Development.