Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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The progress of the CITP initiatives certainly highlights to us that the construction industry and its stakeholders, from both the public and private sectors, are serious in working towards transforming the industry into one that is of high quality, safe, modern, productive and environmentally sustainable. — Ahmad ‘Asri

Launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in September 2015, the Construction Industry Transformation Programme (CITP) is being spearheaded by the Works Ministry and the Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB).

It involves four strategic thrusts that address the challenges and issues faced by the Malaysian construction industry. Over 2016 to 2020, they also act as catalysts for the transformation of the industry into a modern, highly productive and sustainable one that enjoys continued growth and enables Malaysian companies to compete with international players, domestically and abroad.

The four thrusts – Quality, safety and professionalism; Environmental sustainability; Productivity; and Internationalisation – will transform the construction industry with 21 initiatives.

This week, we feature the first two thrusts: (i) Quality, safety and professionalism; and (ii) Environmental sustainability.

CIDB chief executive Datuk Ahmad ‘Asri Abdul Hamid says the board is pleased that the industry is well on track to hit the targeted outcomes set for year 2020. In fact, several successes have been achieved across four strategic thrusts, which led to the CITP achieving an overall progress rate of 96.5% for the key performance indicators (KPIs) set for January 2016 to June 2017.

“The progress of the CITP initiatives certainly highlights to us that the construction industry and its stakeholders, from both the public and private sectors, are serious in working towards transforming the industry into one that is of high quality, safe, modern, productive and environmentally sustainable,” says Ahmad ‘Asri.

Collectively, there are 21 initiatives and 117 KPIs being tracked and monitored under the CITP. From January 2016 to June 2017, the Quality, safety and professionalism strategic thrust achieved a 96% thrust KPI progress, he adds.

During the same period, the Environmental sustainability strategic thrust recorded a 95% thrust KPI progress.

Under the Quality, safety and professionalism strategic thrust, “Quality” involves raising the quality levels in the construction industry through the increased use of the Quality Assessment System in Construction (Qlassic), says Ahmad ‘Asri.

“The overall goal is to have more than 50% of private residential projects, with a contract sum exceeding RM10 million, completed annually to achieve a Qlassic score of at least 70% by 4Q2020.

“To date, 449 projects have been assessed with Qlassic, and 63% or 281 projects have achieved a Qlassic score of more than 70%. We expect to see scores increasing over the years, which reflects the improvement in quality of construction workmanship.”

For the element of “Safety”, the number of trained safety and health officers (SHO) and site safety supervisors (SSS) for the construction industry have been increased to enhance safety at construction sites.

CIDB trained 824 SHO and 1,350 SSS from 2016 to June 2017, and there are two ongoing studies being conducted on enhancing the safety performance of the construction sector.

Ahmad ‘Asri explains that one study is on the adequacy of existing laws and regulations in addressing the safety and health issues at construction sites, while the second study is on securing improvement in the safety and health performance of Malaysia’s construction industry.

“In terms of enhancing workers’ health and safety, the living conditions of construction workers must be addressed,” he says, adding that the board has worked closely with the Department of Standards Malaysia in publishing the MS 2593:2015 — Malaysian standard for temporary construction site workers’ amenities and accommodation.

Its next target is to work closely with the Labour Department to ensure that the Bill on Worker’s Amenities 2017 (Rang Undang-undang Penginapan Pekerja 2017) is aligned with the MS 2593:2015.

Meanwhile, Ahmad ‘Asri says the Environmental sustainability strategic thrust was finalised in the aftermath of the massive floods that hit the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia in 2014.

CIDB is also developing a sustainable infrastructure tool for Malaysia that measures the infrastructure’s resilience against natural disasters.

“We have studied an international infrastructure rating tool, namely CEEQUAL (Civil Engineering Environmental Quality Assessment), and compared its comprehensiveness against Malaysia’s conditions,” Ahmad ‘Asri explains.

“We have completed two pilot studies using CEEQUAL to assess the infrastructure sustainability of the Duta Ulu-Kelang Expressway (DUKE) and West Coast Expressway. To date, we have trained and accredited 16 CEEQUAL assessors.”

He says the board is also extensively promoting the use of the Malaysian Carbon Reduction and Environmental Sustainability Tool (MyCREST), which was introduced last year to measure the amount of carbon emissions from the construction and operation of buildings.

“By measuring carbon emissions, and promoting sustainability rating tools such as MyCREST, we will be able to take steps towards reducing carbon emissions, which will contribute to reducing global climate change and its impact. So far, we have trained and accredited 88 MYCREST Qualified Professionals.”

For more information click www.citp.my

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