The Infrastar is a design and measurement tool meant to assess the extent of sustainability measures adopted by infrastructure projects

By NUR HAZIQAH A MALEK / Pic By ISMAIL CHE RUS

The sustainable infrastructure rating tool (Infrastar) certification is expected to be used nationwide by the middle of next year.

Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) CEO Datuk Ahmad ‘Asri Abdul Hamid said the implementation of the rating tool, developed by CIDB has begun three months ago on four projects for its pilot programme.

“Two out of four projects have been completed and so far the experience with the tool has been satisfactory,” he said at the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing ceremony with Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) last Friday.

He added that CIDB plans to streamline the assessment further for smoother projects in the future.

“Hopefully after that, we can let it go full-swing by the middle of next year,” he said.

The assessment tool is a design and measurement tool meant to assess the extent of sustainability measures adopted by infrastructure projects, primarily at both design and construction stages.

The rating tool can be applied to all infrastructure projects, including roads, railways, pipelines, plane runways, waterways, treatment plants and network connections.

The assessment takes place at both design and construction stages, whereby if the assessment points reach above 40%, the certification will be given with a star rating, ranging from one-star to five-star.

The rating tool comprises six core criteria, 27 criteria and 89 subcriteria that encapsulate environment, social and economy, sustainability, also known as its three pillars.

Meanwhile, CIDB and Petronas have collaborated to develop and enhance the construction capacity and capability for oil and gas (O&G) through the Construction Industry Transformation Programme (CITP) 2016-2020.

Petronas project delivery VP Zakaria Kasah said through the collaboration, the two bodies will be tapping into its resources in human capital development, materials and quality assurance, new technology development, procurement and corporate development.

“Petronas is particularly interested in the knowledge sharing of Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology from CIDB as it is capable of integrating the planning, design and construction process, while improving planning accuracy and collaboration across the construction value chain,” he said.

Ahmad ‘Asri said through the partnership, the local construction industry will be transformed into one that can compete on the world stage,  beginning from the O&G sector.

“We will also see increased adoption of modern technologies and practices in construction for the O&G sector, which includes the Malaysian Civil Engineering Standard Method of Measurement, Industrialised Building System (IBS), BIM, as well as the Malaysian Carbon Reduction and Environmental Sustainability Tool,” he said.

He added that CIDB has conducted a midterm review for the CITP this year, and revisited governance structure and took stock of how industry players could continue to contribute to the CITP.

“Following the review, several measures were adopted to ensure that all key performance indexes contribute directly to its goals.

“We have also adopted and designed action plans, which makes it all the more holistic and easier to reach out on what is being done correctly and double up our productivity, which has been slowed greatly,” he said.

The Malaysian Reserve previously reported that the construction industry is expected to scale a slower growth next year on the back of various mega projects’ revision and global sector slowdown.

In 2017, the industry reported a growth of 6.7% and contributed 5.9% to the country’s GDP.

CIDB also expects the IBS to be made mandatory and implemented nationwide by 2020, although it is slowed by the lack of private projects utilising the technology.