PRESIDENT MESSAGE – JANUARY 2019
Out with the old, in with the new and as we are moving into 2019, it is time for us to reflect on our achievements and growth in the past year. MBAM embarked on another journey with the election of new office bearers for the term 2018-2020 mid of last year. Through 2018, MBAM have successfully grow our outreach member up to 16,767 members (as of 7th December 2018) and hosted one of the biggest international events, the 44th IFAWPCA Convention in November 2018. It has been such a privilege for me to be in tenure to organise such remarkable event together with the Organising Committee and Secretariat staff. Part of the success cannot be achieved without the strong support from MBAM members and Government agencies.
I also come with a sense of excitement for our Association as we will kick-start 2019 by having our Brainstorming on 12th January to come up with ideas and solutions to be able to serve our members more efficiently. We plan to use this Brainstorming session as an opportunity to take a serious stock of where we are at this time and how we would like to grow as an Association. In this regard, we plan to devote some time to strategic thinking and invest in some avenues to benefit the MBAM membership and construction industry at large.
Moving on to look at the bigger picture in our industry, it is expected to record slower growth this year amid revision of mega projects and in line with the slowdown in the global construction sector, said Works Ministry Secretary-General, Datuk Seri Zohari Akob at a press conference that was held in conjunction with the launch of the International Construction Week (ICW 2019) and ASEAN Super 8 on 25th October 2018.
Despite the slower growth projection this year, we should be confident with the contribution of our industry to the gross domestic product (GDP) to remain positive as we observed the value of construction work done in the third quarter of 2018 recorded a moderate growth of 5.2% year-on-year to record RM36.3 billion (Q2 2018: RM35.6 billion). The expansion in value of construction work done was driven by positive growth in the sub-sectors of Civil engineering (17.7%), Special trades’ activities (11.8%) and Non-residential buildings (0.4%).
According to the Ministry of Finance’s Economic Report 2018/19 titled Fiscal Outlook 2019, the construction sector in 2019 is expected to improve by 4.7% year-on-year, following an increase in new planned supply in the affordable homes and industrial segments. The ministry, however, noted that the review of several infrastructure projects, as well as subdued activities in non-residential subsector is expected to weigh down the sector’s performance. On the other hand, the ministry added that the civil engineering subsector is expected to continue to remain as the driver of the construction sector in 2019, largely supported by ongoing projects for example the Pan Borneo Highway, Central Spine Road, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP) Line and Light Rail Transit Line 3 (LRT3).
With all that, we should appreciate all the available opportunities and continue to strive to improve ourselves for the betterment of our industry as a whole.
Finally, thank you, all of you, for the cooperation, support and the tremendous work you are doing. I hope 2019 to be even more successful for MBAM and for you. Here’s wishing you all the joy of the season. Have a Happy New Year!
FOO CHEK LEE JMW
MBAM President