Vital to wean public off private vehicles

BRUNEI needs to address certain key issues in the transport sector if it is to achieve significant reductions in national energy use, said a government official involved in implementing the Sultanate's transportation policy.

Speaking at a conference organised by the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS) to discuss alternative energy and energy efficiency yesterday, Hj Rozaly Hj Saidon who presented a paper on "Issues in Promoting Energy Efficiency in Transportation in Brunei Darussalam" addressed various issues including how to improve the public transport system.

The special duties officer at the Transport Division, Ministry of Communications also talked about public transport management, fuel subsidies and the introduction of "green" vehicles into the local market.

When asked how soon Brunei can see concrete plans on the government's initiatives to reduce energy use, Hj Rozaly said that it would be addressed according to priority. "We have to work very hard on the public transport (issue) first," he said. "Our priority is to encourage public transport for the time being."

In his presentation, he said, "According to the Wawasan 2035 strategy, transport and communication sectors are considered to be the basis for the economy to grow further." He added, "Because the transport sector in itself is not a sector that only provides, hopefully, returns to the government, but also support to the high level industries and sectors".

As Brunei relies heavily on private vehicles (approximately 70 per cent) as a transportation device coupled with heavily subsidised fuel, the issue of encouraging Bruneians to use public transport and reduce energy use, was a major area that needed to be addressed, he said in his presentation.

In his speech, Hj Rozaly admitted that public transport was also "still a bit slow" due to locals being "very attached to their vehicles". Levels of use for private vehicles as a main form of transportation, he noted, was very much due to convenience, and there was much difficulty in trying to change the mindset of the local population in using public transport.

"But having said that, the government, has (an) additional role in trying to provide a conducive public transport, that includes ample infrastructure," he said, citing dedicated bus lanes, dedicated taxi waiting areas and also connectivity between all the towns and cities in the country as ways to combat this issue of mindset and infrastructure.

In terms of bus ridership in the nation, Hj Rozaly said that "a surprising figure of 2-3 million ... is a very good indicative figure" of the current situation. "We can see that if we work further on the public transport, we would be able to get more people on the bus or on public transport."

In terms of compliance with international standards of fuel emissions, Hj Rozaly said that imported gasoline power vehicles only met with Euro 1 and Euro 2 standards compared to vehicles in Europe which were now complying with the Euro 4 and 5 standards of exhaust emissions. He added that diesel powered vehicles were only meeting Euro standard 1.

"There is an effort towards meeting the requirements for Euro 4 and 5 (for gasoline powered cars), because we import our vehicles ... (and) we recognise there is a need to measure the emission situation in the country although the level is considered low (by international standards)."

The government was now working towards meeting international levels of Euro Standards and imported vehicles coming into Brunei would have to comply with these standards.

International practices would also be taken into consideration as a means to begin formulating a framework within the transport sector.

"Maybe we don't want to take 100 per cent (of practises), maybe we can learn from Singapore and Japan; those who have already advanced with their transport technology." Hj Rozaly said.

The Brunei Times