KUALA LUMPUR: The construction industry recorded a RM42 billion loss since the Movement Control Order (MCO) was implemented in March last year, Senior Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Fadillah said the industry suffered RM18 billion in losses during this year's MCO 3.0 between June and September while the remaining RM24 billion loss was from MCO 1.0 between March and July 2020.
"The construction industry recorded a 19.4 per cent decline in growth rate in 2020. In the first quarter of 2021, the construction sector continued to decline at a rate of 10.4 per cent.
"However, it increased by 40.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2021," Fadillah said during Minister's Question Time in the Lower House today.
According to him, among the reasons for the big loss was due to the rising costs in building materials and employee wages, lack of manpower, as well as additional costs for employees' accommodation and standard operating procedure (SOP) compliance borne entirely by the contractor.
To address the issues, Fadillah said the ministry would create a national construction cost centre to help contractors to compare prices, create variations of prices, and ensure their workers are fully vaccinated.
With the gradual opening of all economic sectors nationwide, the senior minister said prices of construction materials are expected to stabilise.
Fadillah said this in response to a question by Datuk Ahmad Nazlan Idris (BN-Jerantut) who asked about the challenges faced by the construction industry as well as the solutions to assist industry players.