Kampong Sungai Duhon

Kampong Sungai Tujoh is a village that is located in the Belait district of Brunei. It is not known if the village was named after the river of Sungai Tujoh or vice versa. The commercial port of Kuala Belait is also located on the banks of the Belait River in Kampong Sungai Tujuh.[1]

Location

Kampong Sungai Tujoh is located to the south of the municipality of Kuala Belait in Mukim Belait of the Belait District of Brunei.[2] It is located at 114º12"E longitude and 4º34"N latitude.

The village is bounded by Jalan Singa Menteri and Kuala Belait to the north, the Belait River to the west and south and the extension of Jalan Pandan Lima to the Seria Bypass as well as the suburb of Kampong Mumong to the east respectively. The Rasau area lies directly across the Belait River. The urban area of the village is contiguous with the municipality of Kuala Belait to the north; it serves as a suburb for the municipality.

History

The history of Kampong Sungai Tujoh is closely tied into the history of Kuala Belait. It was originally a village of squatters[3] for labourers working in the municipality of Kuala Belait and the nearby Marine Construction Yard that was constructed by Brunei Shell Petroleum along the banks of the Belait River in the mid 1960s.

The development of Kuala Belait in the 1980s and 1990s have involved the construction and development of the village. The Public Works Department (JKR) Kuala Belait Offices relocated to the village in the early 1990s. An area to the east of this was also developed for government residential housing at around the same time. An area to the east of the village was also gazetted as the Kuala Belait Light Industrial Area in the late 1990s.[4] The development of the Kuala Belait port at Kampong Sungai Tujoh began at the turn of the millennium.[1]

Kampong Sungai Tujoh gain prominence in the latter half of the 20th century when a bridge was built across the Belait River providing a route to Rasau and from there to Miri in Sarawak, Malaysia without the need for any ferry crossings across the Belait River. However, the bridge was not opened until after a family of Malaysians drowned at the ferry point during heavy rain.[5]

Oil and gas

Brunei Shell Petroleum's Marine Construction Yard, operated by it Services Campaign Operations department is located to the north-west corner of the village between Jalan Singa Menteri and the Belait River.[6] The offices of the Services Campaign Operations department is also located in this area. There are also a number of other yards in the area for the storage of materials.

A number of Rasau wells can also be found in the vicinity of the Marine Construction Yard. These wells produce hydrocarbons from the Rasau field which is located on the other side of the Belait River in Rasau.

Transportation

Jalan Singa Menteri which links Kuala Belait with Seria is the only surfaced dual-carriageway in the village. The roads leading to the Light Industrial Area is also surfaced. However, not all the roads in the village are surfaced.

The scheduled bus service that runs thrice hourly from about 7am to 6pm, with a one-hour break during lunch time from 12pm to 1pm during the day between Kuala Belait and Seria transverseson Jalan Singa Menteri from Jalan Sungai and then turns north to Jalan Setia Pahlawan.

The road from the port area to the Seria Bypass does not pass through the village; it heads south from the port. The road is unsurfaced.

The Rasau Bypass (the continuation of the Seria Bypass) and the eastern end of the Rasau Bridge cuts through the southern uninhabited part of the village. The Rasau Bridge across the Belait River is a toll bridge. The tolls ranges from B$3 for a passenger car [7] to over $20 for a commercial long vehicle.

The Port of Kuala Belait is one of the two ports of Brunei. The other port in Brunei is at the other end of the country at Muara. The part of the port near the mouth of the river is operated by Brunei Shell and public entry is restricted. The commercial port of Kuala Belait is located to the south of the municipality in Kg. Sungai Duhon and its environs further upriver from the mouth. Due to silting of the river mouth, the port can only take shallow draft vessels. Two breakwaters[8] have been constructed at the mouth of the Belait River to reduce silting of the river mouth. However, regular dredging[9] is required to keep the port in operation.

There are no airports in Kuala Belait. Commercial travellers would have to travel to either Bandar Seri Begawan or Miri to catch a commercial flight.

Schools

There is only one school in the village. This is the Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Religious School located on Jalan Singa Menteri in between the Marine Construction Yard and the Public Works Department (JKR) main Kuala Belait office.[10]

References

1. Inland Clearance Depot At Belait Port BruDirect 25-05-2001 Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine - retrieved 23-04-2007
2. Poskod Belait Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine - retrieved 23-04-2007
3. Belait Stamps Out Squatting To Give Way To Industries Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine - retrieved 23-04-2007
4. Brunei Industrial Development Authority Archived 20 July 2007 at Archive.today - retrieved 23-04-2007
5. Govt to open Rasau Bridge?, BruDirect 11 October 1999 Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine - retrieved 18-04-2007
6. page 8, BSP receives the French Ambassador - Salam January 2006 - retrieved 23-04-2007
7. Residents cry foul over Baram ferry closure Archived 10 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine BruDirect 03-11-2005 - retrieved 18-04-2007
8. Kuala Belait Breakwater Environmental Assessment - retrieved 23-04-2007
9. BSP Carrying Out Dredging Activity In Belait River BruDirect 11-06-2005 Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine - retrieved 23-04-2007
10. Religious activities continue to glorify month of Ramadan RTB 18-10-2006 Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine - retrieved 23-04-2007