Building & Investment (Sep - Oct 2015) | Page 52

News & Events CIDB pens MoUs with eight organisations for adoption of MyCESMM MyCESMM aims to enhance professionalism and competitive edge of the local construction industry. CHECKED OR OTHERWISE, overruns in manpower, materials and machinery are a bane to any building venture, explainable, like spilled milk, but irrecoverable in the final reckoning. The larger the scale of the venture or project, e.g., highways, air and sea ports, power plants and other civil engineering works, the more adverse the impact – a case for cost-effectiveness in public and/or private sector construction delivery. For the record, Malaysia expended RM157 billion in 2014 for 7,628 projects, of which total RM32 billion (21%) was for building infrastructure whereas housing accounted for RM43 billion (27%), social amenities for RM8 billion (5%) and RM74 billion (47%) for others. To date, up to mid-2015, the tally is RM39 billion (or 2,183 projects), comparable to the same quantum for mid-2014 or 2,203 projects (Source: CIDB). In the bid to do away with discrepancies and ambiguities (at pre-procurement, drafting of Bills of Quantities and construction stage), the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) introduced MyCESMM (Malaysian Civil Engineering Standard Method of Measurement) in 2011. With a view to “enhance professionalism and the competitive edge of the local construction industry”, MyCESMM provides for the use of one standard and aims for all engineering disciplines to better understand the nature Minister of Works YB Dato’ Sri Haji Fadillah Haji Yusof, CIDB Chief Executive YBhg Dato’ Sri Ir Dr Judin Abdul Karim, CIDB Chairman YB Tan Sri Dr Ir Ahmad Tajuddin Ali and Ir Noraini Bahri, CIDB General Manager IBS & Mechanisation-Technlology Development Sector with representatives from the eight organisations at the signing ceremony. of work to be undertaken and, in turn, reduce potential claims and disputes during construction - all at the preparatory and pre-building stage, not after, so as to deliver cost-effective projects There was occasion, therefore, to celebrate when CIDB penned a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), officiated by Minister of Works, YB Dato’ Sri Haji Fadillah Haji Yusof, with a number of organisations, public and private, for the adoption of MyCESMM, namely: s Gamuda Berhad s Jabatan Kerja Raya (Public Works Department), Malaysia s Lembaga Jurutera Malaysia (Board of Engineers Malaysia) s Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd Dato’ Judin (centre) and Ir Noraini (third from right) during the signing ceremony. 48 Building & Investment | www.b-i.biz s s s s Projek Lebuhraya Usahasama (PLUS) Berhad Malaysia Prasarana Malaysia Berhad Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Air Negara (National Water Services Commission) Tenaga Nasional Berhad At the half-day event, which also included a talk on MyCESMM, trainer certificates were awarded to 38 civil engineers and quantity surveyors who have been tutored by CIDB, in the use of the system, via its “train-the-trainer” programme. (A collective 200 building professionals from 11 organisations in Sabah and Sarawak, with whom MoUs were signed in 2013 and 2014, have similarly been trained by CIDB.) Ceremonies aside, two MyCESMM users/collaborators took to the rostrum to share their experiences in presentations of case studies on MyCESMM applications in civil engineering works from the engineer’s perspective and that of a quantity surveyor’s. Q