New law needed to make it compulsory to use IBS - Abdul Rahman

New legislation is needed to make it compulsory for the construction industry to use the industrialised building system (IBS) which reduces the country's dependency on foreign workers drastically, said Minister in the Prime Minister''s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

He said through the IBS, which is also known as pre-frabricated construction, building components are made in the factories under controlled environments and sent to the construction site to be assembled into a structure using minimal workforce.

"There are many foreign workers in the construction industry, and when IBS is used, we can reduce our dependency on foreign workers at the construction site because all housing components are made in the factory.

"The components are then sent directly to the construction site and this will also solve the problem of noise pollution and garbage disposal at the sites which affect those who live around the project," he said in a press conference held after officiating the Youth Skills Day at the Tunnelling Training Academy of MMC Gamuda here today.

Abdul Rahman said the requirement for the IBS woud also control the outflow of money amounting to RM30 billion by foreign workers.

He said members of the construction industry must be given up to three years to build their own IBS factories before it is made compulsory.

Abdul Rahman said he was working with Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof and Minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Tan Sri Noh Omar to finetune the proposal to make the IBS compulsory.

He also praised MMC Gamuda which had its own IBS factory as well as the academy which was the first in the world to provide training for work relating to tunnelling , using tunneling machinery.

Earlier, Abdul Rahman presented certificates of completion to 100 trainees of the academy who undertook training in welding, mechanical and electrical works in the tunnelling construction industry.

The trainees also received job offer letters from Gamuda Group for underground work of the MRT Line 2 (Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya) which is expected to begin this November.

-- BERNAMA