‘Advanced technology vital for fast completion of projects’
KUCHING: The adoption of advanced technology in government infrastructure development is crucial to accelerate the completion of infrastructure projects and saves cost in the long term.
In view of this, Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said his ministry will continuously embrace and adopt advanced technology as the main agenda in the realisation of a digital infrastructure which is sustainable and scalable.
Citing the Pan Borneo Highway project as an example, he pointed out that the Ministry of Works had proposed the implementation of the Highway Information Modelling (HIM) system.
This specialised project monitoring tool, which is a combination of the Geospatial Information System (GIS) and Building Information Modelling (BIM), tracks real-time information in a 3D environment which includes project coordination in a collaborative environment.
“The objectives of HIM are to minimise and reduce errors during the construction stages of the Pan Borneo by visualising, monitoring and tracking the project progress of contractors by integrating 3D BIM in assisting on the coordination, consolidation and checking of all information by establishing 3D As-Built Models that comply with the Public Works Department’s (JKR) requirements for asset management,” he said in his keynote address during the second session of the 4th Sarawak Business & Investment Summit
The maintenance of the Pan Borneo Highway is expected to be easier, cost saving and prolong the life cycle of the roads built. Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, Works Minister
( SBIS) at a leading hotel here yesterday.
By using HIM in the Pan Borneo Highway project, he noted that the improved collaboration between the project owner and designers during construction will minimise rework and reduce construction cost.
“The maintenance of the Pan Borneo Highway is expected to be easier, cost saving and prolong the life cycle of the roads built.”
To support the aspirations of high impact and sustainable development, Fadillah said the Ministry of Works launched the Construction Industry Transformation Programme (CITP) in 2015 with the primary objective of transforming the construction industry to be highly productive, environmentally sustainable, and globally competitive by focusing on four strategic thrusts; namely quality, safety and professionalism, environmental sustainability, and productivity and internationalisation to strengthen and empower the development of the construction sector.
“The Ministry of Works through its agency JKR is actively implementing the Industrialised Building System (IBS) technology in all government projects which is mandated to have 70 per cent and 50 per cent for the private sector.
“The use of IBS technology will reduce up to 50 per cent dependency on foreign workers and ensure more opportunities for the Malaysian workforce,” he remarked, adding that as in CITP target, adopting IBS technology can double productivity levels by 2.5 times to US$16,500, equivalent to RM61,939 per worker by 2020.
Fadillah was among the keynote speakers at SBIS which was launched by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, who represented the Chief Minister.
Themed ‘ Digitising Sarawak, Amplifying Growth’, the oneday summit organised by Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute (Asli), served as a timely platform to review the state government’s strategic complementary twopronged direction and provide uptodate business and investment outlook to help industry captains, entrepreneurs and regulators reassess their future plans.
Also present were Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri and Asli chief executive officer Tan Sri Dr Michael Yeoh.