IBS increasingly accepted in construction sector — CIDB

0

Ahmad Farrin (centre) receives a memento from Abdul Rahman as Mohd Mezlan looks on.

KUCHING: The use of the Industrialised Building System (IBS) has been increasingly accepted by those in the construction sector in the country.

Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Malaysia general manager (technology development sector) Datuk Elias Ismail said the benefits of IBS are clear compared to conventional methods.

He said this in his speech at the opening ceremony of the “Challenges of Implementing IBS in Rural Sarawak” forum held at the CIDB Convention Centre here yesterday.

His text of speech was read by CIDB Malaysia general manager (IBS Division) Ahmad Farrin Mokhtar.

Elias explained that the mechanisation and methods of modern construction of the system enable potential
problems in the project to be detected from the design stage to completion.

“The implementation of IBS has been enforced by the government through a Ministry of Finance circular and supported by the IBS Roadmap 2011-2015 provided by CIDB.

“The circular had resulted in the IBS usage level for government projects increasing to 81 per cent in 2017 compared to only 20 per cent in 2008.

“The high usage of IBS proved that the system had been increasingly accepted in building construction projects in the country,” he added.

As for private sector projects, Elias said the government has come out with a policy that required the use of IBS for projects worth RM50 million and above and achieving 50 IBS scores.

He said this policy would be enforced by the local authority through the Permission to Plan or Building Plan Approvals which will be re-enforced by 2020.

However Sarawak and Sabah are exempted from this policy.

Elias believed that with the enforcement of the policy, there will certainly be an increase in the demand and usage of IBS in both government and private sectors.

“Thus the increasing use of IBS will require competent IBS contractors,” he added.

Also present were Sarawak CIDB director Mohd Merzan Hashim and Malaysia Construction Academy (ABM) chief operating officer Abdul Rahman Ahmad.