president message december 2021

DECEMBER 2021 PRESIDENT WEBSITE MESSAGE

How time flies that we are now in the last month of year 2021. I hope that MBAM members will continue to stay safe and healthy. While we are preparing for our activities in year 2022, I hope that all members will continue to partake in the myriad of events organised by MBAM.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish those celebrating a Merry Christmas and to all, Happy New Year! I hope 2022 will be a better year for our industry heading towards the road of recovery.

International Construction Transformation Conference (ICTC) 2021 – Forum 1

I would like to thank the Organising Committee of the International Construction Week (ICW) 2021 organised by CIDB Malaysia for inviting me to be part of the ICTC Forum 1 that took place virtually on 9 November 2021. The theme title for the forum “How Construction Can Emerge Stronger after Corona Virus” is timely to discuss on how the industry can move forward in the year to come.

As everyone is aware and we have been talking about it repeatedly, COVID-19 global pandemic is unprecedented and I am sure none of us were prepared for it. The immediate impact of COVID in the Malaysian construction industry was rather drastic as we were not allowed to work at all during the initial stage of the Movement Control Order (MCO) last year.

With most sites now reopened, the focus has shifted towards how to operate again under the new normal. So, what is next? How can we cope with the disruption and uncertainty? Every company has implemented COVID safety procedures to keep sites safe and healthy. This has been priority number one.

We have to look at the power that the industry has because it represents certain percent of the total national GDP. It employs a large percent of the workforce and it is at the right time to do that industrialisation transformation based on digital transformation. 

I hope that the Malaysian construction industry will be back stronger and better. 

 

To extend construction operating hours to increase productivity 

The construction industry welcomes the Selangor state government’s decision recently to standardise the operating hours for construction sites within the state from 8am to 6pm on Mondays to Saturdays. 

The progression of construction works have been interrupted since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and affected by various movement control orders imposed. There were times that sites were not allowed to work or have been operating with low productivity rate due to compliance with standard operating procedures. Based on observation, the industry in general experienced a total stop work duration for at least 199 days and about 380 days of low productivity in greater Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. 

Although the construction industry in Selangor state was allowed to resume full operations since 18 October 2021 in line with the National Recovery Plan (NRP) Phase 4, most construction sites are keeping busy to max out their operations capacity to catch up with the time loss to ensure projects can be completed within the stipulated time in contracts. 

However, contractors are still finding it strenuous to keep up with all the delayed construction works within limited time. Therefore, MBAM would like to suggest to the Selangor state government to consider extending the construction operating hours to 7am until 7pm on Mondays to Fridays. This is because with the new normal, the daily procedures to scan for temperature and check-in with MySejahtera before workers are allowed entry to sites are taking up a substantial amount of time. Towards the end of each working day, construction sites would also need to spend a fair amount of time to do housekeeping clean up to ensure the safety of sites are being kept in check. 

MBAM also hopes that other state governments would consider the same implementation. With the standardisation to extend construction operating hours, it would allow the industry to be able to close in on better productivity. 

 

Tan Sri Sufri Hj Mhd Zin PSM, SSAP, DPTJ

President, MBAM

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