Seven foreign and local companies working on the Hengyi project in Pulau Muara Besar (PMB) yesterday committed to 2,836 conditional offers of employment (COE) to Bruneians who will undergo training programmes at the newly launched Centre for Capacity Building (PPK).
China Chemical Engineering Second Construction, China Construction Installation Engineering Co. Ltd, Sahid & CSEEC Sdn Bhd, NJNCC (B) Sdn Bhd, Shanghai Third Harbor Benteng Construction and Engineering Co Ltd, Sinotcc Sdn Bhd and Sinotrans (B) Sdn Bhd ceremonially submitted their COEs yesterday on the final day of ‘Market Day’ for PPK, where the public and jobseekers were invited to view and sign up for the 13 programmes – mostly involving skilled technical work.
PPK’s Director Gary Young said the first intake of 852 will commence training this September and December, with PPK expected to produce 3,000 graduates by December 2018 that will be immediately employed.
The establishment PPK – a centre offering fit-for-purpose training demanded by private industry and certified by industry standards – was first announced by 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 in his Titah delivered on the occasion of the monarch’s 71st birthday celebration a few weeks ago.
The public turnout, and more indicatively – the number of final registrants – as seen in the graph below, shows that demand has already been exceeded for this September and December’s intake.
Almost a thousand out of the 3,201 registering were women, allaying skepticism and defying presumptions that women would be unlikely to take up such posts.
Those enrolling to PPK must be citizens or permanent residents at least 17 years of age (with the exception of heavy vehicle drivers, whose minimum age is 21). No formal experience is required; but participants should have at least completed Year 9 in school and be medically and physically fit.
While training at PPK, located at compounds of the former Pengiran Anak Puteri Hajah Masna Secondary School, participants with Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) qualifications and below will receive a monthly training allowance of $300, and those with Higher National Diploma (or equivalent) will receive $500.
After graduating and entering into employment, they will continue to receive that same amount as part of a monthly salary top up for three years.
The Minister of Energy and Industry at the Prime Minister’s Office Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin Haji Umar added that the government would monitor closely the welfare of the PPK graduates, even after the period of three years, to ensure they remain employed even if their company’s contract expires or scope of work is complete.
“We have a roll over programme that assures they will continue to have work,” he said in an interview with media yesterday afternoon.
The minister cited that the roll over practice has been used in oil and gas industry, where locals are transferred to a new company, if their existing company’s scope of work is complete and there are no further projects for the organization and its employees to execute.
He also assured that the necessary ground work has been carried out to ensure the PPK site is safe; new workshops and facilities will be built and the existing buildings of the school will be rectified by a structural engineer by the year’s end.
PPK’s programmes, which will be delivered by registered training organisations (RTOs) from the private industry, are also expected to expand to include serviced based courses for shop assistants, receptionists, food processing and other skills needed by the industry.
The Pulau Muara Besar project, lead by Hengyi Industries, is to develop an oil refinery and aromatics plant expected to start in 2019/2010 with a targeted production of 8 million tonnes of by-products annually, including aromatics, gasoline and diesel.
However PPK graduates are not planned to be exclusively employed to the project, with a stream of other Foreign Direct Investments and industry projects also expected to offer thousands of new opportunities for employment.
Those not able to make it to PPK’s Market Day can register or learn more at www.ei.gov.bn/ppk. You can contact the Manpower Policy Planning Unit at +6738239933 or visit JobCentre Brunei located along KM 8, Jalan Perindustrian Kg Beribi, where the former BINA building used to be.
