| Azlan Othman |

THE Hengyi Brunei Pulau Muara Besar (PMB) project will be ready for commercial operation in the third quarter of this year after more than two years of construction and preparation.

Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd CEO Chen Lian Cai made the revelation at the graduation ceremony for the fifth batch of 11 scholarship students under Hengyi Industries’ joint Chemical and Process Engineering Scholarship Programme with Zhejiang University and Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) at The Empire Hotel & Country Club yesterday.

The graduation was witnessed by Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the Ministry of Education Dr Haji Azman bin Ahmad as the guest of honour.

“The Hengyi Brunei PMB project commenced its construction in March 2017. As one of the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) projects operating in the Sultanate, I believe the PMB project will greatly contribute to the development of the nation’s downstream oil and gas industry as well as produce much needed talents for the nation’s petrochemical industry,” Chen said.

“At Hengyi, we strive to not only recruit local talent, but also to equip them with the skillsets, coaching and exposure to the experience necessary to grow the company and add economic value, and contribute to the development of a competent Bruneian workforce and future Bruneian leaders of industry.”

“With the extended agreement of this scholarship programme, we believe Hengyi will be able to further strengthen its commitment towards the country’s Bruneianisation drive and contribute to Brunei Vision 2035.”

Chen added that since 2014, 68 scholars have completed their studies under the Hengyi programme and are now part of the Hengyi workforce, working in various departments and taking up various roles in the PMB petrochemical project.

Speaking at the event, Vice President of Zhejiang University Professor Luo Waidong said that the first phase of the Hengyi-Brunei PMB petrochemical project will be “launched in a few days”.

“This marks a new period of the cooperation between the three parties, Zhejiang Hengyi Group Co Ltd, Zhejiang University and UBD,” he said.

“Let’s take this as a starting point and conduct more high-level programmes for talent training, student and teacher exchange, as well as academic and cultural communications to strengthen the connection and cooperation between Zhejiang University and UBD.”

Syahiirah binti Haji Abdul Wahab, one of the 11 graduates, highlighted that she and her fellow students’ internship has been “nothing less than enlightening”.

“Through firsthand exposure, we learnt to understand the expectations that were set on us once we start working, and it also helps us identify the areas of weakness that we need to improve on to better adapt to our working environment,” she shared with the Bulletin.

“The whole experience has taught us to learn to conquer our fears and step out of our comfort zones, explore something new, have a good work ethic, learn and develop new skills, and make new friends.”

“Academics-wise, our study in China has helped to widen our knowledge to a bigger scale and given us a better understanding of our chemical and process engineering course, as we are more exposed to the application of the theoretical knowledge for real-life situations and ways to deal with different problems that we may encounter in the future,” Syahiirah added.