ECRL owner: Only 30pct of the workers will be foreigners

The owner of the East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) said that only 30 percent of the human resources involved in the project will comprise foreigners from China and other Asian countries.

In a statement today, the firm said that at present, there were 1,718 people involved in the construction work, of which only 311, or 18 percent, were from China.

The ECRL project is owned by Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL), which is wholly-owned by the Finance Ministry. The main contractor is China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).

MRL said there have been ongoing efforts since September 2017 to recruit local workers in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and the Klang Valley.

These recruits will then go through an extensive training programme which will qualify them for jobs by the main or sub-contractors.

"It is estimated that there will be 80,000 job opportunities offered during the entire construction period," the firm said.

MRL also said that CCCC would prioritise the sourcing of materials locally but specialised machinery, such as the tunnel boring machine, would be imported from China.

"Our training programme will train locals to use several machines that will be imported from China," MRL said.

215 local companies involved in the project

So far, 215 local companies are involved in the project, of which 26 are consultants and 99 companies are suppliers.

Recently, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told Parliament that Putrajaya had allowed the ECRL contractors to import labour from China due to "language accessibility".

"They have applied to recruit Chinese workers as the equipment and machinery to be used are of China's technology, which uses Mandarin for the operating systems and manuals," Zahid (photo) said in a parliamentary reply.

He added: "The consideration for the intake of foreign labour for various sectors approved (by the government) is based on the actual requirement of the employers plus the condition and eligibility ratio set by the Agensi Kawal Selia (Regulatory Agency).

"After a review, (the government) found that the application for the intake of foreign labour for the ECRL project fulfils all the criteria and eligibility ratio set by the agency."

Following this, Kuala Terengganu MP Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad publicly rubbished Zahid's explanation on grounds that plenty of locals are fluent in Mandarin.

The RM55 billion ECRL project, one of several key development projects of the Najib administration, is aimed at linking much of the East Coast with Port Klang. It is financed by cheap loans from China.

Reputable economists such as KS Jomo have questioned the viability of the move, considering that the ECRL was projected to move 53 million tonnes of cargo annually by 2040, although KTM only hauls 6 million tonnes per annum now. - Mkini