Lee checking out information at a booth during the exhibition.
MIRI: Three critical issues affecting the construction industry in northern Sawarak needs to be dealt with urgently – safety training, weeding out dishonest building contractors and reducing construction waste.
Senadin assemblyman Datuk Lee Kim Shin said to address this, the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) in Putrajaya should set up a regional office in Miri city.
Speaking at a CIDB dialogue and exhibition in Miri here yesterday, Lee noted there are at least 2,000 contractors in Miri and Bintulu districts.
“At present CIDB only has one office in Sarawak based in Kuching.
“That is not good enough.
“For such a big state we need to have a regional CIDB office in Miri to regulate and monitor about 2,000 plus builders operating in the northern Sarawak hubs of Miri, Bintulu and also Limbang.
“Safety issues need to be given focus to reduce industrial accidents while dishonest contractors that are doing shoddy work by cutting corners and using low-quality materials must be weeded out.
“Construction engineers should come up with methods for the use of construction waste as tonnes of concrete, steel and timber materials are not being utilised.” said Lee who is also Tourism, Culture and Arts Assistant Minister.
It is estimated that up to 15% of raw materials are being wasted in every construction project in Miri, he said.
This is bad for the environment and also wasteful in terms of financial expenditure.
Lee said in the west, there is zero wastage in construction projects.
“Most use fabricated materials and assemble their projects on site instead of using raw materials.
“That is why they have zero wastage and their construction sites look very clean.
“Here in Miri our construction sites are very messy and we can see waste piling up from building projects.
“Not only is this a waste of money and reources, it is also bad for the environment as there is no technology here to recycle these bulky concrete, steel and timber waste,”he said.
Lee called on locals to link up with foreign engineers to find more environmentally-friendly systems.
