Foreign workers are crucial, not only to fill the dirty, dangerous and difficult (3D) jobs at most of the construction sites, but their contributions actually help to achieve gross domestic product (GDP) growth and economy recovery. — James Ha Tung, Sarawak Master Builders Federation chairman
KUCHING: The shortage of foreign workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic is not the only challenge affecting the construction industry in Sarawak.
The lack of foreign workers coupled with increasing transportation logistics costs and uncertainty in building material prices have left the industry scrambling for solutions to bridge these gaps.
Although the construction industry in Sarawak has seen much improvement in the arrival of foreign workers over the last few months, it is ‘too late’ for certain projects.
Sarawak Master Builders Federation chairman James Ha Tung said with the foreign workers starting to enter Sarawak, there is sort of ‘relief’ following the acute shortage of foreign workers since the pandemic.
“Most of the projects are now trying to catch up, but some projects cannot be salvaged, thus have to be terminated by the contractors,” he told New Sarawak Tribune when contacted.
Foreign workers, he said, are crucial, not only to fill the dirty, dangerous and difficult (3D) jobs at most of the construction sites, but their contributions actually help to achieve gross domestic product (GDP) growth and national economy recovery.
“Their contributions should be viewed positively,” he stressed.
Ha said the industry players welcomed government initiatives to speed up the approval of foreign worker applications by the companies, to increase the number of source countries and easing the process.
Over 700,000 foreign workers in the country have returned to their home countries during the pandemic and the shortage needs to be solved immediately.
Thus, the Human Resources Ministry and the Ministry of Home Affairs recently reached an agreement to simplify and speed up the process of hiring foreign workers, which now only takes three days.
The federal government assured that the expected entry of 500,000 foreign workers from 15 source countries in Asia into Malaysia this year will not affect job opportunities for Malaysians.
They will be placed in sectors where locals are not keen to work in, including plantation, agriculture and construction, to avoid disrupting the optimal operation of the sectors and resulting in huge losses.
Apart from ensuring sufficient supply of workers, Ha said, it is necessary to address the cement shortage in Sarawak, which was prevalent from October to December last year.
The industry is also facing the issue of crusher run (stone) shortage due to non-renewable or expiring quarry licenses.
“Besides, we are concerned about the possible change and removal of fuel subsidies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, especially in the delivery of cement from Bintulu to Miri and Sibu,” he said.
All these, he said, would affect the prices of building materials as well.
