KUALA LUMPUR: The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) plans to make the Quality Assessment System in Construction (Qlassic) mandatory for all construction projects in the country by 2020, said CIDB senior general manager (development sector) Ahmad Asri Abdul Hamid at a media workshop on Qlassic on Nov 10.

“We want to make Qlassic mandatory and one of the routes we are taking is to propose this under Rancangan Malaysia Ke-11 (RMK-11) that will be launched next year,” he told reporters.

Ahmad ‘Asri said CIDB wants the government to make a project’s Qlassic score compulsory for its application for the Certificate of Completion and Compliance (CCC).

Qlassic assessments have been conducted upon the completion of projects since 2007. Ahmad ‘Asri said CIDB plans to introduce Qlassic at the construction stage. From 2016, the board will be able to make a complete assessment as detailed in the Construction Industry Standard with regard to the quality of workmanship.

The board is collaborating with the Implementation Coordination Unit responsible for monitoring government projects in Malaysia and getting all government projects to adopt Qlassic. The board to date has conducted assessments for about 90% of its list of 26 government projects.

Ahmad ‘Asri said making Qlassic compulsory, which comes with a penalty system for failure to comply, will result in an overall improvement in quality in the construction industry.

He said the challenge in implementing Qlassic is that the take-up is very low, with only 700 projects that have undergone the assessment since its introduction in 2007. In 2012, assessments were conducted on only 160 projects, or about 3% out of the total 5,800 construction projects.

 Ahmad ‘Asri said the assessments are conducted by third-party assessors who have been accredited by the board, thereby ensuring “consistent, fair and independent” assessments.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 21, 2014.