BANK Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) has become the principal partner for the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) Convocation Festival 2009 following the presentation of a $19,677 contribution to UBD in support of its ‘Green Project’ initiatives.

The contribution will be used for the UBD Bicycle Park, which comes under the UBD green project encouraging students and staff to cycle within the university grounds to reduce emission.

Present to hand over the contribution was Dona Eldeyana Johan of BIBD.

UBD has started phase one of the construction in four areas, namely Student Affairs Section (HEP) Educational Technological Centre (ETC), Male Residential College (MRC), and the Central Lecture Theatre (CLT). Phase one is carried at a cost of $4,341.

Phase two of the project will be carried out within the campus area, including the Chancellor Hall, Institute for Leadership, Innovation and Advancement (ILIA), Female Residential College (FRC), Administration Building, Faculty of Business, Economic and Policy Studies (FBEPS), Faculty of Science (FOS), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education (SHBIE), Sports Complex and the UBD Mosque. The second phase will cost $11,736.

The project is a long-term initiative towards turning UBD into a Green Campus and help educate the UBD community on environment sustainability and its challenges.

UBD Assistant Vice Chancellor Dr Hj Junaidi bin Hj Abd Rahman in his opening remarks said, “The ultimate aim of the green project is to equip all UBD communities with the knowledge and skills required to live a sustainable life.

“Thus, the theme ‘UBD CAN! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ has been chosen to encourage staff as well as students to start recycling paper, reuse plastic, and reduce waste and emission that could exacerbate climate change. To achieve this goal, various projects have been planned in conjunction with the 21″ UBD Convocation Festival.

“Some of the students’ initiatives that have been or will be implemented under this project are the ‘Plant 100 trees for a cause’ project, ‘Amazing Race – Go green’ competition, ‘It’s fun to use bicycles’ campaign, ‘Towards less plastic usage around UBD’ campaign, the ‘Trash into treasure’ competition and exhibition, ‘Environmental Sustainability Poster’ competition, Pledge for ‘UBD Environment Challenge’ and a creative comedy sketch performance by students of the Rakis Club.

“UBD will also be holding an awareness and hands on workshop entitled ‘UBD Green Initiative: Forest Rehabilitation’ tomorrow,” he added.

” In all these initiatives under the UBD Green Project, BIBD’s contribution is of immense importance. The
contribution, in fact, has enabled the implementation of the aforementioned projects and campaigns and because of this, BIBD has contributed to the raising of awareness among our students on their environment and its sustainability,” he said.

Additionally, from the contribution, BIBD will be sponsoring the prizes for the UBD Amazing Race 2009 tomorrow. This activity is one of the student initiatives implemented in conjunction with the UBD Convocation Festival 2009.

The UBD version of Amazing Race will embrace the `Green Concept’ and will have 11 checkpoints situated around the UBD campus. At each checkpoint, contestants will be faced with a myriad of tasks ranging from cycling to searching for fauna. There will be 28 participating teams, with each team consisting four members.
Members of the winning team will each receive $500, while second place team members will be awarded $300 each, and third place team members $100 each.

As part of the UBD Convocation Festival 2009, BIBD will be conducting a Financial Planning seminar for UBD graduates, current students and staff. It will be held at the UBD Chancellor Hall on the afternoon of November 4, during the Careers Fair.

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