FREE MALAYSIA TODAY. 4TH FEBRUARY: The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) has backed an MP’s call for an increase in the number of centralised living quarters (CLQs) in industrial areas across the country.
FMM president Soh Thian Lai said there was an urgent need for such housing, particularly in consideration of the large number of foreign workers in the country.
Since the Employees’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act (Act 446) came into operation, he said, FMM had been urging state governments to go for a public-private partnership in the building of CLQs, especially in places where there were restrictions in housing foreign workers in residential areas or shophouses.
“State governments can provide land to private developers who can build CLQs at competitive prices and then rent them out to employers to house their workers,” Soh told FMT.
“Ideally, adequate CLQs should have been established before the full enforcement of Act 446 as there is a shortage of approved housing that meets the standards under the Act.”
Yesterday, Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming called for more CLQs to be built nationwide on industrial land instead of in residential areas.
Ong said this would be “less intrusive” for local residents who might oppose the setting up of these living quarters in residential areas.
Soh acknowledged that the town and country planning department had made provisions for the conversion of houses and hostels into temporary living quarters (TLQs) until 2023, but said there were still issues to surmount.
“Despite the facilitation by the department, employers in several states continue to face challenges from their state governments or local councils in converting their workers’ housing to TLQs, especially those that house workers in shophouses or within residential areas.”
This had hampered the employers’ efforts to obtain the certificate for accommodation, a requirement under Act 446.
“The inability to obtain the certificate for accommodation, which is a mandatory requirement for any employer wanting to employ new foreign workers, would cause great hardship to those facing a dire shortage of workers and would subsequently derail their business recovery efforts.”
Small and Medium Enterprises Association (Samenta) chairman William Ng agreed with Soh that there were not enough CLQs.
“CLQs will resolve the issue of environmental, social and corporate governance issues and labour standards compliance, provided the cost to businesses is reasonable,” he said.
He said the government could provide an investment tax allowance of up to 50% to developers of CLQs to be offset against their income, and a one-off tax deduction could be allowed for SMEs investing in buses or vans to shuttle workers to and from CLQs.