Property Hunter Magazine Issue 63- February 2015 | Page 64

COFFEE TALK | kopiandproperty.com

Kota Kinabalu
Property Market

SHORTAGES SOON?

H

ow many foreign
workers would
you find in a
construction
site in Sabah
today? Well,
except for the site supervisors,
I think nearly everyone is a
foreign worker. Of course,
not just true for Sabah but
Peninsular Malaysia too. The
problem with over-reliance
is that if some unforeseen
circumstances do happen,
it will affect the construction
and thus the actual property
development’s completion
date itself. According to a local
daily report, it is said that 95%
of the construction sector in
Sabah is reliant on foreign
labour. Yes, it’s 95%. Needless
to say, if these foreign labourers
suddenly disappeared from the
construction sites, the majority
of all property developments
would be affected. Even today,
it is already facing labour
shortages, especially because
developments bought less than
3 years ago are in progress of
being built and any delay comes
with late penalties.
According to the Sabah Housing
and Real Estate Developers
Association (SHAREDA)’s
President, Datuk Francis Goh,
the property sector is a very
important contributor to
Sabahs economy. Thus, the

64

www.PropertyHunter.com.my

industry needs a sufficient and
consistent supply of workers.
This will help in all the projects
which is being built whether
they are government related
ones or private ones. As usual,
locals are not interested in
these jobs which are deemed
to be tough and low level. Thus,
the number of foreign workers
continue to increase with the
booming property sector for
the past many years. In fact,
another important factor why
these numbers would reduce is
also because of the release of
the Royal Commission of Inquiry
last month. This will definitely
see more action being taken on
the undocumented migrants in
the state and this will indirectly
affect the number of workers
available in the construction
sector. Many more will be
deported once caught.
Personally, I think the
developers just have to do
things the correct way. If
they hire illegals to save on
documentation fees, in the
long term it would come back
to haunt them. If however,
everyone follows the usual rules
and regulations, I think the state
government would be clearer on
what to help and how to help.
Currently, I sense a disconnect
and I seriously do not think
anyone can say for sure how
many construction workers are

actually needed. Once this is
not transparent, there’s no way
that action