CONTRACTORS have sought the immediate intervention of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to reinstate the Construction Labour Exchange Centre Berhad (Clab) to simplify the entry of foreign workers, as the industry continues to grapple with a chronic worker shortage.

Master Builders Association Malaysia (Mbam), on behalf of 10 construction associations, in a joint statement, said the key to ensure sufficient supply of workers is “to simplify the foreign worker application process”.

Clab, they said, should be allowed to handle foreign workers’ issues without the participation of the Human Resources Ministry as this was already the original plan for the construction industry.

Clab is an organisation established in July 2002 by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) to bring in and redistribute foreign workers for companies and organisations in Malaysia.

The statement stated contractors across the country who have been eagerly waiting for their supply of foreign labour to help the industry recover need clear guidelines on the recruitment of their foreign workers.

“There is so much uncertainty on the ground now. The reality is that the industry has waited for foreign workers for far too long,” the contractors added.

They said with cash flow getting tight due to slow progress at sites, rising cost of building materials due to the depreciating ringgit, potential imposition of Liquidated Ascertained Damages (Lad) and other legal challenges they could face after the protection under the Covid Act 829 ends on October 22, are pushing them “to the edge of the cliff”.

The Covid Act 829 protects certain industries from legal actions for failure to meet contractual obligations.

“These are all living nightmares the construction industry is currently enduring.”

The contractors said the current requirement of queuing in person at the Human Resources Ministry to get quota applications for foreign workers should be a thing of the past.

“The lack of action to solve this problem is appalling. For contractors, there is no cash flow right now due to a lack of progress at construction sites due to insufficient workers.”

The contractors said by just giving them the numbers they require, that would drastically reduce the number of illegal foreign workers and increase the number of legal foreign workers.

The government, they added, will still get the required revenue.

“This can be a win-win strategy for all stakeholders. No employer would prefer to engage undocumented foreign workers if the process to engage legal foreign workers is efficient and transparent.”

They also criticised the current registration process which they said had been broken into many processes “to accommodate the many outsourced entities that have been created to perform each individual recruitment step”.

“Although it may be argued the fees imposed by the outsourced entities are paid by the foreign construction workers themselves, these fees add an unnecessary burden to the would-be construction workers.”

They said such fees will ultimately be passed on to employers and eventually to consumers.

The associations named in the statement are Persatuan Kontraktor Bumiputera Malaysia, Persatuan Kontraktor Melayu Malaysia, Gabungan Kontraktor Bumiputera Wibawa Malaysia, Persatuan Kontraktor India Malaysia, Royal Institution of Surveyors, Malaysia, Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia, Association of Consulting Engineers, Malaysia, Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia and the Malaysian Institute of Planners. – September 30, 2022.