Roadblocks in adopting IBS in Sarawak
KUCHING: Pre-fabricated construction – more commonly known as Industrialised Building System (IBS) in Malaysia – is a lesser-known method of construction in Sarawak whereby components are assembled off-site rather than on-site in more traditional construction methods.
This method is used worldwide as it has proven itself to be effective in increasing cost and resource efficiencies while reducing environmental and noise pollution.
Due to these advantages, many countries have designated IBS to be a necessary component for many, if not all, of their approved construction projects.
Malaysia herself is no stranger to IBS as the method of construction was introduced into the country since the early 1960s through the use of pre-cast concrete beams, columns and panels in a large panel building system.
The very first venture in utilising IBS elements with construction was the Tunku Abdul Rahman Public Housing Estate in Kuala Lumpur or more commonly known as the Pekeliling flats.
The flats featured seven 17-storey apartment blocks and were the third high rise apartments constructed in KL. They were built between 1964 and 1967 and utilised a large panel building system.
It stood tall for over half a century before its demolishing activities finalised in 2015 to make way for newer housing and commercial projects aimed to revitalise the area.
Since the maiden IBS project 53 years ago, IBS application has graced many of our construction projects from affordable housing projects to our iconic building structures like the Petronas Twin Towers and the KL Tower.
The private sector as well had participated in the IBS movement and experimented with various prefabricated construction methods while being led by various precast concrete solution providers.
Despite these efforts however, the form of construction has not yet made its full emergence within the country, especially in Sarawak and Sabah.
According to Ir. Shahrul Nizar Shaari, founder of Innovacia Sdn Bhd, the reason for this was due to a lack of proper guidance within the construction industry in the past.
“In most cases, it was for one-off and isolated projects (previous IBS attempts) – no proper plan was formulated by the Government for the industrialisation of construction,” said the Innovacia founder, an IBS consultancy firm and also the first private company accredited by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).
“This was the case until the inception of the IBS Roadmap 20032010, which was a master plan to facilitate the transformation of the Malaysian construction sector.”
“The plan was formulated from input from the industry and endorsed by the cabinet in 2003,” Shahrul said in an article published in The Ingenieur (SepNov 2006 issue).
After its endorsement, the next push for IBS adoption from the government came through in 2004 during the 2005 budget announcement.
“First, it was announced that all new Government building projects are required to have at least 50 per cent of IBS content; which is calculated through the IBS score manual developed by the CIDB.
“The decision to make it compulsory for Government buildings was to create sufficient momentum for the demand of IBS components and in order to attract the private sector, the second announcement was on the levy exemption for housing projects that have a minimum IBS score of 50 per cent,” shared Shahrul.
The government’s IBS agenda did not end there as during the subsequent 2006 budget announcement, further tax incentive to IBS manufacturers was offered through the Accelerated Capital Allowance (ACA) whereby they would be able claim tax relief for any expenses incurred in the purchase of moulds used for production of precast concrete components.
The final most prominent push for IBS during this period was witnessed in 2008 when it was reported in the local media that the government had increased their previous 50 per cent IBS content requirement for government buildings to 70 per cent.
With all these commitments from the government, one would think that our construction industry would be quick to adopt the new construction methods into their businesses, especially with all the provided incentives.
Sadly, this does not seem to be the case as even after seven years since the completion of the roadmap, IBS usage in our construction sector is still low.
According to a report from The New Straits Times, IBS implementation is only represented in 15 to 20 per cent of overall projects in Malaysia – majority of which are government projects.
Shahrul blames this low rate on the circumstances of which the IBS roadmap was initiated in.
“Unfortunately, the IBS roadmap was launched at the end of the Eighth Malaysia Plan; and by then, most of the Government allocations for development had been utilised.
“As the kick- start initiative depends almost solely on Government projects, not much could be seen in terms of IBS application as it was limited to one or two IBS pilot projects.
“Thus it could be argued that nothing much has changed in the industry since the introduction of the IBS roadmap,” he opined.
Shahrul went on to point out that the whole situation was further exacerbated by the lower demand of construction activities from the public sector which has been observed to contribute only 30.47, 27.97 and 32.86 per cent of total construction work value done in the years 2013, 2014, and 2015 respectively.
“As such, even though the Public Works Department (JKR) offers a new set of Government quarters’ drawings using IBS and modular coordination (MC), it is not being utilised fully due to the low overall demand of public construction activities.”
In response to this, it seems the government might be attempting to take a more forceful approach as CIDB’s technology division’s general manager, Noraini Bahri has said to The New Straits Times that the government agency is lobbying to extend the mandated IBS content beyond government buildings and into the private sector, starting with a 50 per cent score.
Joseph Wong Kee Liong, president of Sarawak’s Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (SHEDA) reckons this to be a real threat and anticipates that the guideline would mostly likely be imposed onto private developers within the next five to 10 years.
That being said, Wong urges local private developers to look into IBS adoption not just because of its cost and resource efficiencies but also to be prepared for future changes within the industry.
Wong’s advice seems to have not fallen on deaf ears as within our state alone, there appears to be a change in attitude for IBS adoption from both local government and developers.
This was observed in the recently-held affordable housing and urbanisation work visit to Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urbanisation (MoHU) and Sheda Kuching branch.
The visit’s intention was to explore and source for cost-effective construction systems and materials for the development of affordable housing projects in the state.
On this point, the trip is considered successful as five local private companies walked away from the trip, each having signed a memorandum of understanding (MOUs) between one of two Chinese IBS system manufacturers, Conceiving Board Manufacturing Co Ltd (CBM) and Weifang Henglida Steel Structure Co Ltd.
While majority of the MOUs were for the potential importation of IBS systems into Sarawak, the MOU that stood out the most was the one between CBM and Smart Housing R&D Sdn Bhd, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC).
The MOU was for the set-up of a modular panel manufacturing plant in Muara Tebas under a third party vehicle between the two organisations with the HDC as the majority shareholder.
According to Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg who was present to witness that signing, the set-up of the plant would facilitate technology transfer from CBM to the state and help meet housing needs of the state by allowing increased access of IBS materials and systems for local developers to utilise.
He added that the technology would be extremely useful outside of the housing sector as well as it can be used for government projects such as resettlement projects and social infrastructure.
Lim Wee Han, a technical and sales manager with CMS Concrete Products Sdn Bhd, which is one of Sarawak’s our few IBS manufacturing plants, supported this notion, further adding that the potential plant – which is said to specialise in steel frames and sandwich panels – would be greatly beneficial to the local industry on the whole.
“We are excited about its potential set-up as it will definitely help complement our products and increase adoption of IBS elements within the state.”