HOUSING projects undertaken by the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) are all on schedule but the agency is fully committed to finishing on time, its acting chairman said.
"All our housing projects are on schedule, but in all fairness to everyone, the test comes in the end," said Dato Paduka Timothy Ong.
Speaking to The Brunei Times earlier this week, Dato Ong said the agency is "very happy" about the progress so far but stressed that its full commitment goes to finishing on time.
"It's like when you run a marathon, in the beginning you could be very impressive, but it's what happens at the finish line that counts. At BEDB, we are fully committed to finishing on time, but when a project is four years away, it's now too early to tell," he said.
With regards to the housing project in Kg Panaga, Belait, the acting chairman said, "if you drive past you can see it's almost (completed)".
Dato Ong believes the reason why these projects have been given to them is because they are expected to deliver on time, otherwise frankly, "why would be asked to do this"?
The board is mindful of the responsibility that they have been given and the acting chairman is determined not to let the people who have entrusted them with this responsibility down.
"We understand the official waiting list of number of people waiting for houses is at 17,000. So our approach (for Kg Bukit Beruang) is to move as quickly as possible," he said, adding that the sites of these houses are identified by the Housing Development Department (HDD).
He explained that the board has to follow the HDD's specifications for houses and the sites for all the other districts were assigned to them.
When asked if there are any concerns regarding the housing projects, Dato Ong was confident to say that there are none.
"Our focus always, is that we deliver on time and to quality. When you are talking about such large projects, obviously you worry about this all the time, but no, there are no specific concerns. So far so good," he said on Wednesday in a telephone interview.
He also assured that the board is pleased with the contractors they have appointed.
"We award our contracts based on competitiveness and each time we tender, the prices get better and better. What that means for us is, we are saving money with each of these projects. So long as the contractors are financially sound, and have the ability to deliver, that's what we care about," he stated, adding that another concern, is the process is transparent and fair.
As to the public's concerns of an unfavourable land conditions at Kg Mengkubau in the Brunei-Muara district, Dato Ong said: "the Kuala Belait site before we built on was a swamp, we view these as challenges, but we still deliver the best as we can."
In Kg Panaga, Kuala Belait, 60 per cent of the development will be terrace houses while the remaining 40 per cent are semi-detached units, in accordance to the requirements of the National Housing Scheme.
Kg Mengkubau's 4,000 houses will comprise of detached, semi-detached as well as terrace houses, while in Kg Bukit Beruang, Tutong, 1,000 of the 1,500 houses are terrace units, while the rest are semi-detached.
Thus far, all contracts have been awarded to foreign listed companies, two from Malaysia and one from Singapore.
"All our tenders are open an international. For the latest tender (Tutong), we had 11 companies from Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, China and South Korea taking part," said Dato Ong, further adding that the tender process has become "very competitive".
These houses build are targeted at low income families under the National Housing Scheme under His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam's government's vision, who are committed to a policy where every eligible Bruneian is allowed access to affordable housing.
Currently, the number of houses BEDB are in charge of stand at 7,500.
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