BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Road fatalities in Brunei went down by 44 percent as the government worked with the private sector to promote safe driving in 2017-2018, said a senior government official here on Sunday.

According to local daily the Borneo Bulletin, Minister of Transport and Infocommunications Abdul Mutalib attributed the decrease to the Brunei National Road Safety Council's active involvement with the private sector and non-government organisations in 2017-2018.

The ministry was also employing a "whole of nation" approach for safety initiatives, the Bulletin reported.

"We hope to maintain and even improve on this with a whole-of-nation approach, which we do on a constant basis through a series of awareness programmes and enforcement through our enforcement agencies," Abdul Mutalib was quoted as saying.

The report said the minister also pointed out the ministry's objectives in maintaining a level of safety, assurance and wellbeing to those travelling by road, air and sea.

The minister told the Bulletin that his ministry has been experiencing restructuring and re-strategising in terms of its functions, ever since its name change to the Ministry of Transport and Infocommunications last December.

"We have expanded our scope of functions and are now focusing on the transport sector, which covers land, aviation and maritime...At the same time we will also be focusing on info-communications, postal services, broadcasting, e-services, e-governance and cyber-related matters," he said.