Sabah Builders association hopes for assistance to revive industry

By Olivia Miwil - May 8, 2020 @ 3:56pm

Sabah Builders Association is hoping the state government would look into alternative measures to assist stakeholders get back to work soon. - NSTP/MOHAMAD SHAHRIL BADRI SAALI

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Builders Association is hoping the state government would look into alternative measures to assist stakeholders get back to work soon.

Its president Lou Chi Nam said the association supports the mandatory Covid-19 screening for foreign workers but feels it would hamper the industry as the waiting period is too long.

"Based on the current testing capacity in Sabah, it will take many months to complete the whole process.

"That means the construction industry can only operate progressively leaving the majority of contractors unable to start work," he said in a statement, adding that they hope the government could also help bear the cost of screening foreign workers.

The Sabah government today announced it allowed the construction, maintenance and forestry sectors to operate as part of its gradual reopening of economic activities in the state.

After eight weeks of inactivity during the Movement Control Order, Lou said that construction players were facing cash flow difficulties.

There will also be difficulties for contractors in the rural areas where access to medical facilities are limited, it is also time consuming and costly to transport foreign workers to hospitals for screening.

"Many will not survive over the next few months. Even for those lucky ones who manage to start operations, they will face disruption to their usual daily activities.

"The workers have to adjust themselves to comply with the standard operation procedures, not to mention the additional costs for the compliance and the reduction of production capacity," he added.

Meanwhile, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, in a statement, said the opening of construction activities include constructing buildings, infrastructure, public amenities, landscape and other related services.

As for maintenance, activities such as repairs and restoring buildings and piping systems, cutting grass, and drainage clearance were also allowed.

Forestry activities are for upstream works such as farming, restoration, civil culture, production and transportation of forest products; for downstream, it refers to wood-based factories.

"Sabah government would like to emphasise that the permission to operate for said sectors and related services is based on standard operating procedures by the Health Ministry.

"(Workers) have to be confirmed they are free from Covid-19 by health personnel," said Mohd Shafie.