INGENIEUR
Requirements for
Temporary Amenities
and Accommodation for
Construction Workers
By Maria Zura Mohd Zain, Nurulhuda Mat Kilau,
Ahmad Farhan Roslan and Zuhairi Abd Hamid
Construction Research Institute of Malaysia
T
he construction industry in Malaysia, one of
the country’s most productive sectors, has
contributed significantly to the Malaysian
economy as an enabler of growth for other
industries. Although it accounts for less than 5%
of Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the
industry is an essential growth enabler due to its
extensive linkages with the rest of the economy, for
example, the manufacturing sector, professional
services, financial services, education sector,
and other industries. Figure 1 shows the link
between the construction industry and other
sectors in Malaysia based on GDP. The Malaysian
construction industry is identified as an important
sector that drives the Malaysian economy, as
shown by the GDP breakdown by Sector in Figure
2 (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2019).
The construction industry is known as one
of the labour-intensive sectors, proportionate
to the number of workers on site. Under the
Eleventh Malaysia Plan (11 th MP), improving the
management of foreign workers was highlighted
as part of an initiative to improve labour market
efficiency to accelerate economic growth. The
Government introduced a strict liability concept
whereby employers of foreign workers were made
fully responsible for their recruitment process and
welfare (Economic Planning Unit Malaysia, 2015).
Employers and workers shall comply with the strict
liability with basic amenities and compliance with
international labour standards.
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VOL
VOL 79
55 JULY-SEPTEMBER
JUNE 2013 2019
In response to the agenda, the Ministry
of Works (MOW) Malaysia, together with the
Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB)
Malaysia, spearheaded the development of the
Construction Industry Transformation Programme
(CITP) 2016-2020. Part of the initiatives under
the CITP is to deliver an industry culture that is
ingrained with quality, safety, productivity and
professionalism through introducing a minimum
standard for workers’ amenities and increasing
on-site safety enforcement (CIDB Malaysia,
2015). CITP proposes regulating a minimum level
of workers’ amenities through the enforcement of
Act 446 Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing
and Amenities Act (Laws of Malaysia, 2006) under
the purview of the Ministry of Human Resource
(The Borneo Post, 2015).
Construction Workers
According to Malaysia’s Employment Act 1955,
Section 2(1), a domestic worker is a worker
who is a Malaysian citizen and is employed with
salary as a reward for their contract of service
(Laws of Malaysia, 2019). Indirectly, the foreign
construction worker also shares a similar
definition except for citizenship, which, in a way,
differentiates them from indigenous construction
workers. Their presence in this country is mainly
due to the rising number of construction projects,