Brunei Institution of Geomatics

‘UKUR TANAH ASAS PEMBANGUNAN (UTAP)’ SEMINAR 2014 

28 August 2014, Wednesday, Bandar Seri Begawan – The ‘Ukur Tanah Asas Pembangunan (UTAP)’ Seminar 2014 was jointly organized by the Survey Department, Ministry of Development and the Brunei Institute of Geomatic (BIG). The seminar was held on Thursday, 2 Zulkaedah 2014 corresponding with 28 August 2014 at the Rizqun International Hotel, Gadong. Present as the guest of honour was Yang Mulia Dato Paduka Haji Suhaimi bin Haji Gafar, Permanent Secretary (Technical and Professional) Ministry of Development, Brunei Darussalam.

 

The ceremony began with the welcoming address by Yang Mulia Awang Haji Ali Bakar bin Haji Kasim, Acting Surveyor General, the chairperson of the event. A speech was then delivered by the guest of honour and subsequently officiated the seminar.

 

Five working papers were presented by speakers from the educational institute UBD-IBM and invited speakers from Sabah and Singapore as well as from the private sector.

The speakers and the title of their papers were as follows

• Soh Keng Peng of Singapore Land Authority “3D Cadastre – How to Deal with Space”
• Dr Teng Chee Hua of Department of Surveying & Mapping Malaysia “Developments of 3D Cadastre in Malaysia”
• Hj Safar b Untong of Lands and Survey Department Sabah, Malaysia “Development of Multi-Purpose Cadastre in Sabah”
• Dr. Sandhya Aneja of UBD Brunei “GIS Based Flood Mitigation”
• Joe Wong of Total Monitoring Control Malaysia “Slope Surface Monitoring Using Robotic Total Station”

The papers are available for viewing or downloading below

The aim of the UTAP Seminar is to gather professionals in the land survey and geomatic sector as well as to share knowledge on recent projects carried out by local and regional government and private agencies

The participants of the seminar comprised of officers from various government departments and private companies especially in the field Of Land Surveying, Architecture, Developers, Town and Country Planning, Educational Institutions as well as Licensed Land Surveyors.

 

 

Press Release & Photos Courtesy of Survey Department

http://survey.gov.bn/web/survey_department/latest-news

The papers presented at the seminar can be viewed or downloaded by clicking on the links below

SURVEY professionals, PUJA and all those in construction industry should come up with solutions which are in line with sustainable development, said Minister of Development yesterday (17 May 2014).

Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Hj Suyoi Hj Osman was speaking at the Surveyors’ Night organised by the Association of Brunei Surveyors, Engineers and Architects (PUJA) and Brunei Institution of Geomatics (BIG) at Orchid Garden Hotel, Kg Anggerek Desa.

 

“Concern for the environment is no longer something that we just talk about.

“We all play a role to ensure that our current lifestyle, our buildings and homes, and our neighbourhood are environmentally-friendly,” he said.

YB Pehin Dato Hj Suyoi also said: “50 per cent of natural resources used were for construction-related activities, and over 50 per cent national waste productions are also from the construction sector.”

Last night also saw the signing of memorandum of understanding between PUJA (Brunei) and BIG. The signing was witnessed by PUJA President and Legislative Council member Hj Zulkipli Hj Abd Hamid.

 

 

COOPERATION between relevant parties is key in ensuring the success of the country’s property industry, the President of the Brunei Institution of Geomatics (BIG) said on Thursday (18 May 2013).

In his speech during BIG’s ‘Property Investment Seminar’ at the Indera Pahlawan Hall at the Ministry of Development Training Centre, Alimin Hj Kalong said that with better awareness about the property market, the market players can then help push the industry forward.

 

“It is my hope that this seminar will be able to shed some lights into the complexity and dynamics of the property industry so that all those involved can increase their knowledge and awareness and come up with a mutual understanding so that together we can contribute to the growth of this industry, and eventually, the economy of our country,” he said.

He also explained that the industry is “a system of complex economic activities” that is made up of many stakeholders and that any change in one aspect will affect the other.

“Any changes in any of these components, for example, new rules or law has an impact on the real estate industry as a whole,” he said.

He added that the property industry is also a significant contributor to the nation’s economy among the non-oil and gas sector.

The seminar featured presentations by the Bangkok-based independent property consultancy Agency for Real Estate Affairs Co Ltd (AREA) President Dr Sopon Pornchokchai and Robin Cheok from Cheok Advocates & Solicitors.

In his presentation, Pornchokchai said that Brunei should be active investors in property in the “ASEAN peninsula” and have the same drive when promoting the local property market.

“If Brunei wants to promote investment, the country has to take part in property seminars and events to promote their property.”

Further in his presentation, he also explained the various factors and mechanisms that determine the rise and fall of property prices in the neighbouring countries.

Meanwhile, Cheok spoke about the legal landscape of property in the country. He said that since the Ministry of Development has abolished the property ownership through power of attorneys or trust deeds, bankers and law practitioners have been working with the ministry to smoothen the transition process.

He also touched on the need for more awareness on the strata titles among property owners.

“If building owners are aware and convert their existing properties into strata properties, the value of their property would increase,” he said, adding the outcome would also positively affect the real estate market.

In March, Development Minister Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Hj Suyoi Hj Osman said that the government is facing challenges in pin-pointing the success of the strata title adding that there is still a lack of interest among property owners in Brunei.

Source: The Brunei Times – 18 May 2013

FIG Commission 7 Annual Meeting 2011 and International Symposium „Cadastre 2.0“

25 September – 1 October 2011, 

TBI Grillhof, Innsbruck, Austria

Introduction

Representative from Brunei Darussalam :

Hj Ali Bakar Hj Kasim (Deputy Surveyor General,  Survey Department) 

Hj Junaidi bin Hj Yunos (Senior Land Officer, Land Department)

 

 

FIG Commission 7 held his annual meeting from Sept. 26th to 30th 2011 in the wonderful city of Innsbruck, Austria. This very successful event culminated with the high level International Symposium Cadastre 2.0. This meeting welcomed delegates from 

30 countries among them FIG Vice President Professor Chryssy Potsiou, former Chairs of Commission 7 Andrzej Hopfer, Ian Williamson, Paul MunroFaure andAndrás Osskó. Without any doubt, issues related to land administration and cadastral perspectives are still of very high interest, namely in regard of citizens’ involvement, crowd sourcing and social medias. And to completion of cadastre and land registration in the developing world, this concerns about 75% of the 6 billion or so spatial units in use by humans on the planet.

 

Issues Discussed

• The future of cadastre is high on the agenda of the FIG Commission 7. Jürg Kaufmann and Ian Williamson shared their thoughts with the Commission.
• Many discussions about one hand the need for a AAA Cadastre (Accurate, Authoritative, Assured) for the some advanced countries and on the other hand, the immediate need for low cost solutions to meet the challenge of population in developing countries. There are different opinions and solutions.
• Developments of 3D cadastre have been discussed. This will be one of the important attention points in the work of the Commission, as well as management of government lands, pro poor land tools (with UN-HABITAT), spatial enabled societies, climate change, the cadastral template and the ISO Land Administration Domain Model.
• There was a contribution on the European Measurement Code for the floor and area of buildings and in general attention to condominium rights with cases from Italy.
• The technology will take over the work of surveyors in land registration more and more. This work can be done by many people based on a very short education. We will not see cadastral surveyors in the field so much in the future.
• Surveyors’ role and contribution to land administration is under change from field surveys to information and quality management of spatial data and being supportive and leading in developments of national spatial data infrastructures with a broad application range. This can only be done in close co-operation with professionals from other disciplines. Reliability of data is the key contribution of our profession.
• It will be possible that people develop their own cadastre based on infrastructures as Google and Facebook.
• Developments of cadastral systems in Asia; e.g. Malaysia and Korea are very impressive; also in support of huge land reforms.
• Our colleagues from Africa need support for their actions in relation to their governments. FIG will not take a position in political discussions, but will provide alternative approaches, checklists in implementation alternatives – e.g. in relation to land grabbing as it can be observed in many countries; in co-operation with FAO.
• Disaster management and importance of cadastre was discussed. An example from Hungary illustrated the need of combining data from different sources in case of disaster.
• Impact of earth quakes and tsunamis for cadastre was discussed with cases from Japan and New Zealand. Rapid relief based on cadastral information.
• A very interesting visit to the BEV Cadastral Office of Kufstein. Austria was one of the very first countries with a digital cadastre and land registration. Public can view the cadastral data and purchase on line.
• A very impressive guiding tour of the Construction of the Lower Inn Valley Railway Tunnel Site. Delegates had opportunity to see the construction of the 25 m underground railway tunnel.
• There is an urgent need for knowledge and information on the latest developments in cadastre and land registry in many countries; the work of the commission (reports, cadastral template, proceedings) are used for this purpose. This could be even better communicated. And the link with Géomètres sans Frontières to be strengthened; a challenge for the young generation of surveyors.
• Commission 7 wants to thank the Austrian Society for Surveying and Geoinformation and more specifically Mrs Gerda Schennach, Vice-Chair of Commission 7, for organizing such a perfect meeting.

 

 

Findings / Recommendation.

• The meeting was very useful for the senior officers from both Survey and land departments of Brunei Darussalam to attend, as issues raised on the land management from the members countries were discussed during the meeting.  
• As a member of the FIG , Survey Department, Ministry of Development,  Brunei Darussalam shall update the current achievement of the Cadastral activities in the country via the FIG  commission 7 website.
• In the next meeting the representative of Brunei Darussalam shall present the current status of cadastral activities in this country. Field to Finish (F2F) project which is currently in the process of implementation is one of the subjects that will be reported in the future meeting.
• During the working group discussion, it was emphasized that cadastral management (land development policy) play important role in disaster management. For instance, proper scheming for the land subdivision will at least educate people to develop their land properly in accordance to building or construction guidelines.
• Brunei Darussalam is currently embarking coordinated cadastral System project. The project is expected to be completed in stages. Once the project has been completed, the survey data acquisition will be much faster and much cheaper. This will improve the cadastral system in this country.
• Cadastral data sharing between Survey Department, Land Department and other related agencies within the Ministry of Development shall be implemented in the near future. This will expedite the process of decision making.
• All the delegates had an opportunity to visit the state boundary between Austria and Germany. The boundary marks were planted on top of the hills and were maintained properly.

 

Conclusion

The FIG commission 7 meeting was very successful event culminated with the high level International Symposium Cadastre 2.0. The issues discussed related to land administration and cadastral perspectives are still of very high interest, namely in regard of citizens’ involvement, crowd sourcing and social medias and to completion of cadastre and land registration in the developing world, this concerns about 75% of the 6 billion or so spatial units in use by humans on the planet.  Many discussions about one hand the need for an AAA Cadastre (Accurate, Authoritative, and Assured) for the some advanced countries and on the other hand, the immediate need for low cost solutions to meet the challenge of population in developing countries. There are different opinions and solutions. Surveyor’s role and contribution to land administration is under change from field surveys to information and quality management of spatial data and being supportive and leading in developments of national spatial data infrastructures with a broad application range. This can only be done in close co-operation with professionals from other disciplines. Reliability of data is the key contribution of our profession.  There is an urgent need for knowledge and information on the latest developments in cadastre and land registry in many countries.

Submitted by: Hj Ali Bakar Hj Kasim (Acting Surveyor General, Survey Department) 25