Industry players told to reduce impact of power consumption through proper planning
KUCHING: Industry players in Malaysia are encouraged to conduct proper planning especially to reduce the impact of energy consumption by the construction industry in line with sustainable development practices.
Minister of Works Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said these holistic initiatives would forge a continuous way forward for the construction industry, which he fervently believed would yield global social wellness for humanity.
He said as the nation moves forward, the construction industry will grow rapidly and play a vital role in the economic growth of the country.
“However, it can also generate implications to the environment if it is not regulated properly.
“On the government’s part, under the Construction Industry Transformation Programme (CITP), the Ministry of Works and Construction Industry Development Board ( CIDB) have developed initiatives such as Building Information Modelling ( BIM) as mentioned earlier, which will help manage the life cycle of roads and construction projects; reduce the generation of on- site waste; develop competencies via the Centre of Excellence (CoE); and develop Malaysian Standards for Construction Specification that includes green technology requirements,” he said.
He said this in his keynote address ‘Outlook of Malaysian Road Infrastructure’ at the International Energy Week ’18 in BCCK here yesterday.
Fadillah noted that implementing sustainable practices in Malaysia’s construction industry is a great challenge as it requires significant investment costs.
He pointed out that this financial constraint impedes implementation of new technological concepts, resulting in the lack of push factor in regulations and uncertainty in actual costs.
He said higher costs incurred for the import of green materials and technology also hindered the shift towards sustainability.
“As such, there is also an urgent need to up- skill the construction workforce to keep pace with the modernisation and efficiency gains in the construction industry and thereby attracting the younger generation, thus reducing dependence on foreign labour,” he said.
Fadillah noted that another challenge faced in the industry was keeping up with maintenance of roads due to our tropical weather of heavy rains and extreme heat.
He said the differences in soil types and conditions also contributed to various issues which cropped up regularly which requires continuous effort by ‘our agency, resulting in higher resources in the form of cost, time and energy to maintain our roads.’
He said although it was a monumental task to address each and every single concern on maintenance with the current budget, as the Minister of Works, he would always strive to address these issues and make it his utmost priority to ensure the safety and comfort of road users and the people as a whole.
“This is in line with the ministry’s second and third strategic thrusts to maintain roads and highways, and to enhance the construction industry based on a sustainable development basis,” he added.