This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 28, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: The works ministry said it wants to get the local authorities to impose a mandatory ruling for new developments to comply with the requirements for the Industrialised Building System (IBS).

Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said this will accelerate the adoption of IBS in Malaysia, which has been relatively slow among the smaller players despite wider adoption among the bigger players like IJM Corp Bhd and Gamuda Bhd.

“We would like to get all the local authorities, which are the approving agencies [for new projects], to make IBS one of the mandatory terms.

“All submissions must be IBS-compliant. Once this is done, more will adopt IBS,” he told the press on the sidelines of the International Construction Week 2018 yesterday.

He reiterated that IBS will be more feasible and viable once there are bigger demand and higher volume of components, in response to comments that IBS is more expensive than traditional construction methods.

During his opening speech at the event, Fadillah said the Public Works Department has come up with 130 pre-approved plans which comply with IBS requirements.

To date, the Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia has registered 264 IBS manufacturers and trained 1,963 professionals in IBS and modular coordination.