Photo by Shahrin Yahya/The Edge

SINGAPORE (June 5): Singapore has agreed to share knowledge and expertise in the use of the Electronic Productivity Submission System (ePSS) to assist the construction industry in Malaysia in measuring worker productivity, said Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi.

He said this was among the matters discussed during a bilateral meeting with Singapore's Minister for National Development, Desmond Lee, in the republic on Monday.

"One of the discussions highlighted was the ePSS under the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) of the Singapore Ministry of National Development.

"In this regard, the BCA has agreed to collaborate with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) of Malaysia in terms of knowledge and expertise sharing on the use of ePSS to enable CIDB to measure worker productivity," he said in a statement on Wednesday.

In Singapore, builders are required to monitor manpower usage in their projects and submit the data to BCA through the ePSS, and from the data collected, the agency can calculate the industry average project productivity for different building categories.

Meanwhile, the 40-minute meeting also focused on the expansion plan of the North-South Expressway PLUS between North Senai and Sedenak in Johor.

Nanta said the expansion from four to six lanes is expected to make travel from Singapore to Johor more comfortable and convenient and will have a positive impact on the economic and logistics sectors of both countries.

In addition, both parties also expressed support for initiatives such as International Construction Week 2024 (ICW 2024) by CIDB, marking a promising trajectory in future cooperation.

This includes moving towards stronger partnerships, facilitating technology transfer, and improving the quality of construction work.

Nanta said the meeting between him and Lee was very fruitful because it had opened up opportunities and stimulated efforts to create potential cooperation especially in the development of infrastructure and construction between Malaysia and Singapore.

"I hope that the insights, direction, and valuable progress we have gained from this beneficial engagement will fuel further efforts and pave the way for important dialogue and cooperation in the future," he said.

Nanta led the Malaysian delegation to Singapore from June 2 to 4 for the World Cities Summit (WCS) and the Asian Infrastructure Forum (AIF) 2024.