Govt buildings built according to QLASSIC standards by the year 2018 - Fadillah

All government buildings will be built according the the standards in the Quality Assessment System in Construction (QLASSIC) by the year 2018 to ensure quality and reduce construction cost.

Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said that under the system, the Public Works Department (PWD) would ensure that every developer and contractor used the standards stated by QLASSIC before any government building was constructed.

"It is hoped that the new procedure can ensure quality for any building project besides avoiding the possibility of non-compliance of procedures and standards stipulated by the ministry," he said at the ceremony to hand over the Letter of Acceptance (SST) to 20 contractors for the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP)

projects at the Works Ministry, here today.

Fadillah said the new procedures could reduce cost due to non-compliance of procedures in construction besides avoiding wastage of public funds.

He said the contractors must adhere to every specification stated in the contract including the management of safety and health at the construction sites, improving quality of construction work, reducing building defects and risk of accidents at the work site.

At the media conference after the conclusion of the handing over of the SST, Fadillah said his ministry would continue with all infrastructure development projects which formed the major requirement of the people.

He said the austerity drive carried out by the government would not affect projects that had been planned in the first round plan of the 11MP including 37 new projects.

"We are now implementing several austerity measures, but they will not affect development projects which had already been planned, on the other hand, we will save in terms of operations," he said.

On ailing projects, Fadillah said as of Nov 30 2015, about 60 such projects were recorded under the 10MP.

Under the 10MP, the PWD received an allocation of RM32 billion and had spent RM30 billion (96 per cent) involving 5,498 projects while another 734 projects were at the pre-construction and construction stages.

Commenting on the Grade G1 (Class F) contractors, Fadillah said the ministry was providing RM40 million worth of projects for the contractors concerned this year compared with RM28 million last year.