Construction Industry Development Board’s (CIDB) chief executive Ahmad Asri Abdul Hamid said they had taken a proactive approach, together with the works ministry, to increase vaccination among construction workers.
The Construction Industry Vaccination Programme (CIVac) was launched on July 1 and implemented in five states.
It ended on Sept 28 with 100,180 workers fully vaccinated.
Asri said the government had ensured that construction projects complied strictly with SOPs and vaccinated all workers.
The government had allowed work to begin on 3,868 projects valued at RM30.1 billion as of October 2021 to rejuvenate the industry. This compared to 3,653 projects valued at RM25.9 billion in the same period last year.
“It is expected that the number and value of government-awarded projects in 2021 will continue to increase.
“Hopefully, this trend will also be followed by the private sector. We hope more private projects will be implemented,” he said.
Asri said the construction industry was estimated to have incurred a loss of RM42 billion following the implementation of movement control orders to check the spread of Covid-19 from March 2020.
“A total of RM18 billion was estimated lost during the MCO 3.0 period from June to September this year.
“About RM24 billion was lost as a result of the implementation of MCO 1.0 in 2020, which affected construction work from March to July that year.
“About 10,000 projects were affected by the pandemic,” he said.
The construction industry is forecast to record real growth of 9.2% in 2021, following a contraction of 19.4% in 2020. This compares to the previous forecast of 11.2% growth for this year.
The downward revision is primarily due to the implementation of the nationwide lockdown in June 2021, which affected construction activity.
The industry is expected to post a sharp recovery in 2021, assuming that there is no repeat of the containment measures that were in place in 2020, with growth supported by investments in transportation and energy projects.
The sector is expected to register an annual average growth rate of 6.8% between 2022 and 2025.
Asri said the construction industry is expected to regain its positive growth following the continuation of major infrastructure projects announced in the 12th Malaysia Plan.
“Infrastructure projects such as the East Coast Rail Line (ECRL), the East Coast Expressway 3 (LPT3), the Mass Rail Transit Line 2 (MRT2), Klang Valley Double Tracking 2 (KVDT2), the Johor-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS), the Pan Borneo Highway in Sabah and Sarawak, and the Baleh hydroelectric project are also projected to spur growth.
“Budget 2022 allocates RM75.6 billion for development expenditure, which is 9.6% higher than in the previous allocation. Of this, about RM25.3 billion is for construction work,” he noted.
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