THE construction sector needs about 1.2 million workers to function normally after having lost many of its workforce, said industry players.

They said the industry was already reeling from a shortage even before the Covid-19 pandemic, but the situation has since become worse, largely due to new regulations and conditions in the pandemic-hit world.

They added that to counter the shortage of workforce, the industry was turning to the Industrialised Building System (IBS), a technique that involves fitting pre-constructed concrete together.

This new method, they told The Malaysian Insight, can meet at least 50% of developers’ manpower needs, apart from being a much safer alternative.

“Last year, before the movement-control order, we had about 430,000 legal workers. By February 2021, the number dropped to about 280,000 legal workers,” a spokesman for the Master Builders Association of Malaysia (MBAM) said.

“There is a drop of about 35% in the number of legal workers. This is because most of them have gone home due to expiry of their work permits.

“But in actual fact, under normal circumstances, the industry needs approximately 1.2 million workers,” the spokesman said.

MBAM said the labour shortage had started even before the Covid-19 pandemic began.

However, the new normal circumstances and new regulations only increased the time taken to hire foreign workers.

“During MCO 2.0, which was implemented in January this year, most construction projects were still carried out by complying with all the requirements and standard operating procedure (SOP) set by the government.

“There was no direct effect towards the relief of labour shortage in the construction industry. The industry still lacks workers,” the MBAM spokesman said.

He said that Malaysia is still heavily dependent on its labour workforce.

“With the current Covid-19 situation and with work restrictions, the industry just needs to move towards digitalisation faster,” he added, pointing towards the use of the IBS as a way out.

He said IBS has its own advantages, including the capability to build better and more complex buildings within a shorter time span while at the same time ensuring its quality.

“With the initiatives by the Works Ministry to raise the country’s productivity in line with the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, the adoption of precast concrete will definitely provide advantage,” MBAM said.

Projects delayed

However, many contractors are still not ready to adopt the technology due to the high cost of investment and lack of skilled workmanship in the application of the panel on site.

Selangor Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) chairman Ho Hon Sang said the labour crunch was one of the biggest issues for the construction industry.

He added that developers were holding back on new projects as a result of the manpower shortage.

The government temporarily froze the recruitment of new foreign workers due to the pandemic and to prioritise locals for job opportunities.

However, the Human Resources Ministry relaxed the temporary ban to allow the construction, agriculture and plantation sectors to hire foreign workers.

However, Ho said as labour shortage remained a concern for developers, they have reduced the number of project launches this year.

“We may have to wait till borders are reopened to launch new projects so that by then foreign workers can enter the country,” he said.

He said in view of the situation, Rehda has encouraged members to use IBS, which can reduce dependence on manpower.

“With IBS, it is possible to reduce foreign labour dependence by about 50%,” he said.

He described IBS as similar to lego which entails assembling pre-constructed components.

It includes precast concrete framing, panel and box, metal framing system, prefabricated timber framing system, masonry and block work system, among others. – April 13, 2021.