KUALA LUMPUR (April 29): Lauding the government’s decision to allow approved businesses to fully resume their operations from today, Mah Sing Group Bhd said Putrajaya should also consider lifting the lockdown for the property sector.

According to the property developer, the sector has a multiplier effect on more than 140 industries and is reliant on domestic consumption.

“Approved construction sites have a set of guidelines to follow, and if property sales galleries can open, they can adopt the same stringent hygiene and social distancing guidelines, which are already being practised at supermarkets or banks,’ Mah Sing said in a statement.

The government allows approved businesses to operate at full capacity under Phase 4 of the movement control order (MCO) which starts today.

Mah Sing said its sales galleries had proactively adopted measures prior to the MCO, including providing hand sanitisers for guests and staff, contactless daily temperature checks and increased cleaning of high-contact areas. 

“Upon approval of operations, we intend to abide by good social distancing rules in the sales galleries for the safety of visitors and staff,” said the group’s founder and group managing director Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum in the statement.

Leong, meanwhile, hopes that the companies that have been allowed to resume full operations would abide by the standard operating procedure for their respective sectors.

He added that he hopes the government would also consider allowing 50% of staff of government departments and agencies to work in their respective offices.

“We truly appreciate the government’s move in continuously taking proactive measures to revitalise and revive Malaysia’s economic activity,” he said.

At the time of writing, Mah Sing’s share price had fallen half a sen or 1.16% to 42.5 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM1.03 billion.

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