KUALA LUMPUR: The Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB) will upgrade the training and accreditation of construction personnel next year to meet industry demand in line with the announcement of projects in the 2015 Budget.
Under the 2015 Budget, the government has allocated a development spending of RM50.5 billion, an increase of 20 per cent compared with RM42.2 billion in 2014 to generate the country's economic development.
CIDB chief executive, Datuk Seri Judin Abdul Karim said the board hoped that all infrastructure development and housing projects that were announced in the budget could be implemented successfully in 2015.
"This is to ensure that the construction sector's growth could be maintained at double-digit as in the previous years," he said in a statement.
Judin also said that CIDB planned to train some 30,000 construction personnel comprising 25,000 in the professional group and 5,000 site supervisors.
"In addition, CIDB also plans to accredit skills to 40,000 construction personnel in various fields next year," he added.
He also welcomed the announcement to develop more affordable housing to address the issue of house ownership, and CIDB would cooperate with the related agencies as well as developers to increase the use of industrialised building system components in the development of these housing projects.
Besides that, CIDB also welcomed the automation capital allowance for labour-intensive manufacturing industries to reduce the dependence on foreign workers, and subsequently increase productivity.
"For the upcoming years, we hope that similar incentives would be introduced for the construction sector to encourage investment in mechanisation and automation by the construction companies," he added.-- Bernama