Standard of MRT Corp workers’ quarters praised

SUNGAI BULOH: Envoys from the Indonesian Embassy and Bangladesh High Commission have praised Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) for the high standard of its workers’ quarters.

Indonesian Embassy transport attache Capt Mochamad Abduh and Bangladesh High Commission labour counsellor Sayedul Islam spent about 45 minutes touring the centralised labour quarters (CLQ) here yesterday.

Capt Mochamad said he was satisfied with the CLQ, which houses about 600 workers from countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nepal, as well as Malaysians.

“MRT Corp has set a very high standard (for worker’s quarters), even above the Malaysian standard. We hope other companies can match this,” he said.

Sayedul said that because the CLQ provides comfortable lodgings, workers will be able to sleep well and this would benefit the company too, through increased productivity.

Capt Mochamad and Sayedul also spent time talking to their respective countrymen at the CLQ.

Bangladeshi worker Kukun Khan, 50, had nothing but praise for the CLQ. “Everything is good,” said Kukun, who has been staying there for five months.

His compatriot Muhammad Tufadhul Hussein, 29, agreed: “It is comfortable here and you can cook every day. There is also a pasar malam (night market) nearby that we can go to.”

The CLQ here is one of 13 that MRT Corp has built or is building for its workers, at a combined cost of RM270mil.

All CLQs are equipped with cabins, each housing four to six workers, and facilities such as cafeterias, surau, kitchens and washrooms.

MRT Corp director of strategic communications and stakeholder relations Datuk Najmuddin Abdullah said the CLQs provide workers with safe, comfortable and convenient housing, as shuttle buses are also provided for the workers.

The CLQ is the first of its kind in the country, he added.

The workers at the CLQ here are involved in the MRT’s second line, the Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya (SSP) Line, with 6.2% of the work completed so far.

Najmuddin said the CLQ here was originally used by those working on the Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) Line, but it has since been refurbished for workers on the SSP Line.

The 13 CLQs, when fully built, will have a total maximum capacity of 9,300.

Good living conditions: Sayedul (second right) talking to a Bangladeshi worker while Najmuddin (right) and MRT Corp director of standard and compliance Syed Mahdhar Syed Hussain (second left) look on during a tour.