ECRL contractor now hiring

Happy faces: (From left) Mohd Asri, Mohd Salahuddin and Izahar are happy to be working again with CCCECRL.

KUALA LUMPUR: The main contractor for the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) is inviting Malaysians to fill more than 300 positions within its ranks as construction of the line will pick up pace again following the signing of a Supplementary Agreement between Malaysia and China tomorrow.

As the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contractor, China Communications Construction (ECRL) Sdn Bhd (CCCECRL) said it had started to re-hire following the signing of the bilateral agreement in April.

“We need contract managers, quantity surveyors, HR managers (and executives), health, safety & environment (HSE) managers and executives, senior engineers, site engineers, quality assurance engineers, planning managers, investment managers, relocation managers, senior architects, trilingual translators (English-Malay-Mandarin), technicians, adminis­trative managers and skilled workers such as welders and machinery operators,” said an official at a meeting recently.

At the height of construction activities before work was suspended in July last year, CCCECRL had 2,250 staff, 70% of whom were Malaysians.

In the few months characterised by uncertainty over whether the project would resume, some workers left on their own accord, while others were retrenched.

CCCECRL has since been rehiring, and has received over 13,000 applications.

It has filled 291 positions as of last week, bringing its headcount to 1,036.

It also invited some of its former staff who resigned or were retrenched to rejoin. Quite a few have accepted the offer.

Mohd Asri Alias, 34, a former quality assurance (QA) manager with CCCECRL, rejoined this month as a QA engineer after quitting CCCECRL in September last year.

“I’m glad to be back,” said Mohd Asri, who will supervise eight QA teams for the project spanning Kelantan, Tereng­ganu, Pa­hang, Negri Sembilan, Selangor and Putrajaya.

Likewise, Mohd Salahuddin Yaakob, 49, was also happy when he received a recent phone call from CCCECRL.

“I did not even pause to listen to the terms and conditions, I just said yes. I really felt like hugging them,” said the safety and health manager who was jobless for 10 months after being laid off by the company during the work suspension period.

The resumption of work has also benefited Izahar Hamidon, 42, who was hired this month to bring in investments to the railway corridor, given its many opportunities for transit-oriented developments.

“There is just so much potential for development along the line, which will be a game changer for the east coast,” he said.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke will re-launch the ECRL project at Dungun, Terengganu, tomorrow.