All city status local authorities to use BIM
In the face of fierce competition brought about by market liberation, as well as disruptive building technologies already being deployed in the market, the Malaysian construction industry cannot afford to sit back and allow the tides of time to pass us by. Datuk Dr Syed Omar Sharifuddin Syed Ikhsan, Work Secretary General
KUALA LUMPUR: All 20 local authorities with city status in Malaysia will be using the Building Information Modelling ( BIM) technology in their initial project submission stage by 2021, said Ministry of Work Secretary General, Datuk Dr Syed Omar Sharifuddin Syed Ikhsan.
Through its agency, the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), he said the government is targeting to run four pilot projects this year, with the collaboration of four authorities on the BIM eSubmission -- a Uniform Building By-Laws auto-checker for building plans.
The authorities are the Putrajaya Corporation, Petaling Jaya City Council, Melaka Historical City Council and the Kangar Municipal Council.
“In the face of fierce competition brought about by market liberation, as well as disruptive building technologies already being deployed in the market, the Malaysian construction industry cannot afford to sit back and allow the tides of time to pass us by.
“The time is now for the industry to pay greater attention to advanced technologies such as BIM, because its adoption is a key changer to ensure the construction industry maintains its competitiveness on the local and international fronts,” he added, before opening the BIM Day 2019 here yesterday.
BIM technology facilitates the coordination, communication, analysis, project management and even asset management, allowing users to build with more accuracy, fewer errors, less waste, better safety and improved efficiency.
The technology, a better alternative to 3D computer aided design modelling, also enables developers to cut down on rework and duplication of drawings for the different requirements of building disciplines as the model contains more information than a drawing set, which allows each disciplines to annotate and connect their intelligence to the project.
Given its cost effectiveness, time savings and other positive features that could lift Malaysia’s construction industry, Syed Omar Sharifuddin at a press conference held later, said the government might consider making BIM adoption mandatory for all developers, both public and private, in the future.
Currently, the level of BIM adoption in Malaysia stand at 17 per cent as compared with 71 per cent in the United States, United Kingdom (39 per cent) and Singapore (65 per cent).
With greater awareness of the technology, the Ministry hopes to increase the adoption level to 30 per cent by year- end, Syed Omar Sharifuddin said.
CIDB chief executive Datuk Ir Ahmad Asri Abdul Hamid said the agency had invested RM3 million to establish the myBIM Centre, a one- stop resource centre for industry players that features state- of-the-art facilities that enable users to model and visualise building projects in a simulated environment.