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Page 24
From Page 4
Hengyi also strives to develop
the local industrial resource
market, supports local economic
development, and helps local
enterprisestoachievetechnological
promotion and innovation.
During the construction of the
PMB Refinery and Petrochemical
Plant, a total of 82 local Brunei
companies were awarded project
contracts, covering construction
materials supply, construction
survey
services,
consultant
services, vehicle supply, bus rental,
medical service, chemical product
supply, cleaning services and tug
navigation services.
In line with the Ministry of
Energy’s Bruneianisation Directives
for the oil and gas sector that
was introduced in June 2018,
Hengyi is committed to provide
opportunities for local employment
and businesses.
The refinery aims to employ 40
per cent locals in its first year of
operation.
Theproject is expected tocreate
further spin-off activities for local
businesses such as engineering,
apartment rental, catering and
transportation and logistics.
Currently, Hengyi has initiated
two scholarship collaborations with
local institutions and overseas insti-
tution namely the Universiti Brunei
Darussalam (UBD) - Zhejiang Uni-
versity joint programme and Insti-
tute of Brunei Technical Education
(IBTE) - Lanzhou Petrochemical Col-
lege joint programme.
The collaboration between
UBD and Zhejiang University is
a twinning Bachelor course in
Chemical Process Engineering,
in which students will study two
years at UBD, 1.5 years at Zhejiang
University and six months industrial
placement in Hengyi Industries
Refinery Plant.
Currently, 57 graduates have
successfully completed the pro-
gramme while 60 other under-
graduates are still undergoing their
studies and expect more in the up-
coming intakes.
For the IBTE and Lanzhou
Petrochemical
College
collaboration, the twinning Diploma
programme in Refinery Operator
requires students to undergo one
year at IBTE, one year at Lanzhou
Petrochemical College and one-
year industrial placement at Hengyi
Industries.
Currently 54 students are
enrolled in the programme.
Additionally, Hengyi Industries
supports an internship programme
from local universities.
Each year, Hengyi Industries
takes 10-15 students for their
internship placement from UTB
and UBD for their Discovery Year
programme.
Contributing
to the nation
From Page 10
In the paddy industry, the
nation has continuously worked
on increasing the paddy and rice
grain productions since 2008 in
line with the vision of His Majesty
Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah
Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-
Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali
Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien,
Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of
Brunei Darussalam. Currently the
country has recorded an increase
of 65 per cent compared to 2008,
which is 1,402 metric tonnes in
2008 to 2,307 metric tonnes in
2019.
Among the strategies planned
and implemented by DAA is the
increasing of paddy productivity
through the use of high quality
paddy varieties, providing of com-
mercial paddy field and upgrad-
ing the water and irrigation sys-
tem that could support the use of
varieties of high quality paddy.
Farmers, since the launching
of the variety of hybrid paddy,
have been able to increase farm
productivity from three metric
tonnes per hectare in a season
to six metric tonnes per hectare
per season, which has increased
profits of paddy entrepreneurs
and contributed towards the
production of the nation’s paddy
and rice grain.
DAA is also currently working
on producing
Titih
paddy seeds
that have a potential to higher
production of eight metric tonnes
per hectare per season and this is
scheduled to start by end of this
year.
The department will also be
implementing research projects
to identify other varieties of high
production paddy up to 12 metric
tonnes per hectare per season
through the researchcollaboration
with International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) under the initiative
of ASEAN and Yuan Longping
High-Tech Agriculture Co Ltd from
China.
In support of the high
production
of
the
Paddy
Plantation Programme and in
ensuring a more sustainable
paddy production, DAA is also
implementing water infrastructure
upgrading projects at several
agriculture development sites and
exploration of water sources from
the ground as a water alternative
source to tackle water irrigation
issues at areas that still have no
proper water irrigation system.
The Ministry of Primary
Resources and Tourism (MPRT)
through DAA is targetting an
increase of paddy production
of 7,895 metric tonnes in 2022
equivalent to 14 per cent self-
sufficiency of the nation’s rice.
Based on current statistics, to
date the production of paddy for
the first quarter of 2020 (January
to March) has shown positive
developments with an increase
of 23.8 per cent compared to Q1
in 2019, where each recorded
1,639.42 metric tonnes compared
to 1,324.62 metric tonnes of paddy
the previous year.
The agrifood industry is one
of MPRT’s focus industries to
diversify the nation’s economy.
Business matching between
farmers and food processing
entrepreneurs is actively carried
out to ensure the supply of
raw products such as fruits,
vegetables and livestock fresh
produce from local farms to food
processing companies, which
is done continuously through
contract farming.
Aiming for
Self-SuffIciency
The department will be implementing research projects to identify
other varieties of high production paddy up to 12 metric tonnes per
hectare per season.
Borneo Bulletin, Wednesday July 15, 2020
Royal Birthday SPECIAL