Employers must inform on accommodation for foreign workers

KOTA BHARU: The Federal Territories Ministry will make it compulsory for every employer to inform on the accommodation for the foreign workers it will be hiring in order to obtain the development order approval.

Its minister, Tan Sri Annuar Musa said this was to ensure that these workers would not be living in overcrowded kongsi houses in line with the government’s efforts in curbing the spread of Covid-19 among foreign workers in the federal territories.

“We make this condition mandatory but it will be implemented in stages as several centralised labour quarters (CLQ) will need to be provided,” he told reporters after launching the Ketereh parliamentary constituency’s People’s Sanitisation Awareness Programme at the Tuan Guru Haji Musa Mosque in Bukit Marak, here, yesterday.

The CLQ is an accommodation concept for the companies in various sectors to provide accommodation with various facilities such as transportation for their foreign workers. Annuar said his ministry had so far identified five locations for the CLQ in Kuala Lumpur including near the Selayang Wholesale Market with an area size of between 0.6 and 1.6 hectares, and in Precinct 20, Putrajaya with an area size of 10.1 hectares which could accommodate a total of 20,000 to 40,000 foreign workers.

He said the ministry would also be enhancing coordination with the local authorities and Human Resource Ministry in determining the number and presence of foreign workers at the construction sites.