The Malaysian Insight

DEVELOPERS want more time to adapt to the new law to provide accommodation for workers, said Real Estate & Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) president Soam Heng Choon.

The Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446) that was fully enforced on September 1 requires employers to provide proper housing and accommodation as well as other facilities for their workers.

“I think there were a lot of grouses at the ground level but I believe most of them are now trying to comply,” Soam told reporters during a press conference at the Home Ownership Campaign-Malaysia Property Exposition today.

“We urge the government to take it easy for the time being and give us a longer period of time to actually comply to this,” he said.

Soam said Rehda is also discussing with Master Builders Association of Malaysia to look into expediting the process.

He added that employers will also have to ensure that standard operating procedure (SOP) such as physical distancing is in place to avoid another wave of Covid-19 infection that could hurt businesses.

Soam said cash flow is another issue faced by developers.

“The challenges are plenty, some related to the pandemic.”

He said that the developers are also facing a labour crunch due to the freeze in the hiring of foreign workers.

Rehda is also calling on the government to come up with a roadmap to increase the participation of local labour, he said.

“We have been telling the government that there has to be a roadmap for industry players to shift to that so that we can make the necessary adjustments. 

“Secondly, not many locals are interested in 3D (dirty, dangerous and difficult) occupations.”

Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan said in June that Putrajaya has frozen new intake of foreign workers until year-end as locals are given priority to fill up job vacancies. – September 30, 2020.