Senior Minister (infrastructure cluster) Fadillah Yusof said one of the main requirements for construction companies to operate was to ensure their workers are Covid-19 negative and that all workers’ health examination costs, including hospitalisation, would be borne by the company.
“This means that even if there is only one positive Covid-19 person, the project will be halted and there will mandatory screening for all. This will surely cost them even more.
“So, it is best to obey all stipulated SOPs (standard operating procedures) so that the project can run without interruption,” he told a media conference on the “Construction SOP during the MCO” here today.
To date, more than 19,000 applications have been received, of which only 1,856 were approved, while about 7,000 were rejected.
“About 8,000 more are in the process of evaluation to determine whether they meet the requirements or criteria,” he said when asked about the number of construction companies which had applied to operate during the MCO.
Fadillah, who is also works minister, said among the reasons for an application to fail were incomplete information on the project and workers, the work being applied not included in the 13 categories listed for operations, or the project did not belong to the construction cluster.
Introducing ‘force majeure’ law in Parliament
Citing examples of several construction projects delayed by the MCO, Fadillah said the infrastructure cluster had decided to table a provision of the law to introduce a temporary “force majeure” at the upcoming Parliament sitting as a result of a discussion at a Cabinet meeting.
“Let’s take Singapore for example. They have a special legislation to deal with this.
“So, we will discuss to make sure of a win-win situation. No one quarter will incur losses, as we are now in a situation which is out of our control,” he said.
Fadillah said this when asked about projects which were interrupted under the MCO as well as the risk of legal action if they failed to complete the project within a specified time.
“Force majeure” is an unforeseen circumstance that causes or prevents a person from performing his or her responsibilities as set out in a contract.
Asked about home renovations which were disrupted under the MCO, Fadillah said such works were usually done by small G1 and G2 class contractors and they were allowed to proceed.
He said permission was given as the work in such classes did not involve many workers but applications still had to be made to the international trade and industry ministry and must comply with the SOP.
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