KOTA ISKANDAR: The Immigration Department has issued 2,485 temporary work permits and 1,682 employment and professional visit passes to Chinese employees of four construction projects in Johor, including the Forest City project in Gelang Patah.
The permits and passes were processed after the Human Resources Ministry granted a quota approval.
"The applications by major construction companies were made following reports of an influx of Chinese workers, hired (allegedly without valid procedures being followed).
"This issue stemmed from unscrupulous agents and individuals acting as middlemen in bringing in the workers," State Unity and Human Resources Committee chairman R. Vidyananthan said in his winding up speech for his portfolio at the 13th Johor State Legislative Assembly sitting here yesterday.
He said all the workers will return to their country of origin upon completion of the construction projects.
Last week, a news portal reported that hundreds of workers from China were stranded at the Senai International Airport here and on the streets, when the jobs they had come for turned out not to exist. According to the report, the workers had paid between 10,000 Yuan (RM6,288) and 24,000 Yuan (RM15,092) to an agent in their country to work at the Forest City project, and were promised high salaries.
The 1,370-ha project is the biggest mixed residential and commercial development site in Southeast Asia, which is built on four artificial islands. -- BERNAMA