Foreigners to comprise only 30% of ECRL work force

Foreigners to comprise only 30% of ECRL work force

Local firms will get priority in supplying building materials for East Coast Rail Link, says project owner.

KUALA LUMPUR:
The East Coast Rail Link project intends to employ 70% local workers while the rest of the workforce will be from China and other Asian countries, according to the project owner.

Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd said 1,718 workers had been hired for the construction work so far.

“Of these, the number of Chinese workers is only 311, or 18%, of the total ECRL construction workforce at present,” said an MRL spokesman in response to a Malaysiakini report that ECRL would use workers from China.

MRL is the owner of the ECRL project while China Communications Construction Company Ltd is the main contractor.

The statement said about 80,000 direct and indirect jobs would be created during the ECRL construction period.

The spokesman also said ECRL’s main contractor would continue to prioritise building materials from local firms.

“However, several machinery and specialised equipment, such as tunnel boring machines, need to be brought in from China and handled by experts to ensure that tunnel works at certain locations run smoothly,” he added.

He noted that up to February this year, 215 local companies had participated in the ECRL construction project, comprising 26 consulting firms, 99 suppliers and 90 contractors.

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