Reduction of foreign worker dependency through IBS

KUALA LUMPUR: The country's dependency on foreign labour, especially in the construction industry, can be reduced if more
companies adopt the Industrialised Building System (IBS), which involves using a pre-cast construction method.

The Construction Labour Exchange Centre Berhad (CLAB) chief executive officer, Azlan Mohd Isa, said only government projects worth over RM10 million are currently required to use the IBS system for 70 per cent of the project's implementation.

"However, this does not apply to private construction companies and government projects valued below RM10 million. The use of IBS would automatically reduce human labour," he told Bernama at the 2011 CLAB Central Region Meet-the-Customer Day in Kuala Lumpur on May 19.

He said that CLAB, which became a government action body to recruit foreign construction labourers in 2004, had brought in about 25,500 workers compared with the total estimated 300,000 construction workers in Malaysia.

He noted that the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) estimates demand for construction workers will increase to 440,000 workers next year and 520,000 workers by 2015.

Azlan added that in their efforts to reduce foreign worker dependency, the CLAB is also offering trained local construction workers from the Malaysian Construction Academy and other training institutions to contractors.  - Bernama