Malaysia Services Exhibition 2011

Construction companies from Malaysia will display their internationally demonstrated capabilities in infrastructure development at the fourth Malaysia Services Exhibition (MSE 2011) held from April 17 to 20, will be held together with City Build 2011 at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), Hall 9 and 10, Thiry companies, specialising in construction and associated services, are participating in the exhibition, with the aim to identify potential partnerships and assume a greater role in developmental projects across the Middle East and adjoining regions.

MSE 2011 follows the success of the previous such exhibitions held in Sharjah 2008, Dubai, 2009 and 2010. The exhibition, organised by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), will bring a range of services from 6 industry clusters, bearing the Malaysian hallmark of excellence, under a single roof.

The construction cluster at MSE 2011 will include service providers that have lead Malaysia's successful forays into the global construction market. Together these companies have completed a big numbers of projects in the Middle East and worldwide as well. According to the Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB), a government agency in charge of promoting, stimulating and facilitating the export of Malaysia constructions services, between 1986 to 2010, 652 Malaysian companies were awarded projects in 49 countries including India ($5.05bn); Saudi Arabia ($3.49bn); United Arab Emirates ($3.18bn); Qatar ($8.09bn); and Libya ($5.27bn).

Among projects secured included building infrastructure, roads and highways, railways and bridges, oil & gas, water treatment and power plants, residential, airports, mixed development projects including housing, hotels, and leisure and luxury residences.

The construction sector continues to be an essential element of the Malaysian economy, lending strength and capability to a host of economic sectors while supporting the social development of the country through the provision of basic infrastructure. With the rapid growth of construction on a global scale, more and more Malaysian construction companies are venturing abroad to fuel their business growth. Their involvement in Malaysia's mega projects in the country as well as abroad, has nurtured the capabilities and expertise of Malaysian contractors.

The strengths of Malaysian construction companies are in the areas of construction of buildings, roads and highways, railways, bridges and airports, toll concession, water treatment and power plants, steel structure fabrication and installation, mixed development projects including housing, hotels, leisure and luxury residences as well as building maintenance, including for high-rise towers.

Matrade Dubai's senior trade commissioner, Datuk Dzulkifli Mahmud said that MSE 2011 will be an excellent opportunity for countries in the Middle East, North Africa and CIS to source quality services from Malaysia and sustain growth of their infrastructure.

"Infrastructure development is getting increasingly diverse and ambitious in Mena and CIS with houses, hotels, ports, airports, utilities, telecommunication projects and mass transit systems being built at breakneck speed. Malaysia has successfully developed and exported its construction expertise in recent years and Malaysian companies can provide support to governments, planners and developers far and near to meet the demands of growing populations and heightened commercial activity," noted Datuk Dzulkifli.

Malaysian contractors have successfully completed infrastructure projects in the GCC, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Boznia-Herzegovina and Sudan, the most notable of them being Bahrain's Formula 1 circuit, the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, the New Doha International Airport, the Mumbai-Pune Expressway in Maharashtra (India) and Cambodia's Siem Reap International Airport. Malaysian companies are also competent in different modes of project implementation including conventional, design and build, turnkey and build-operate-transfer.

"Malaysian construction companies are keen to forge partnerships and strengthen their presence in the Middle East as the region is launching exciting and challenging development initiatives. MSE 2011 will provide them a platform to network with existing and potential partners as well as expand throughout the region," Datuk Dzulkifli added.

Participating companies will be under the lead agency, Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB) and Collaborator, Master Builders Association Malaysia (MBAM).

Other industry clusters represented at MSE 2011 are: Professional Services, Energy and Power Generation (Engineering, Architect, Interior Design, Urban Planner, Landscaper, Energy and Power Generation), Construction and Related Services, Information & Communication Technology (ICT), Oil and Gas, Specialised Training & Business Services and Environment Management Services.

Pakistan invites Malaysian construction companies

Kuala Lumpur: Pakistan government has invited Malaysian construction companies to join in its re-construction efforts in wake of devastating floods last year, which damaged roads, bridges, communication network, schools, hospitals.

"The country is also brimming with investment opportunities in sectors such as power, energy, construction, halal, education, agriculture. This can be gauged from the fact that over 600 foreign companies are earning good profits from their investments in Pakistan," said Pakistan’s high Commissioner to Malaysia Masood Khalid on Wednesday. Talking to News Straits Times Press editorial management team, he said over 30 top ranking companies of Pakistan were expected to attend Investment Opportunities in Pakistan seminar, interact with Malaysian counterparts to build business linkages, contacts to facilitate, explore business, investment opportunities in Pakistan. Seminar, jointly organized by Pakistan’s Board of Investment & Malaysian Investment Development Authority, will be held on March 31, 2011. Masood said after signingfree trade agreement in 2007, bilateral trade between Pakistan and Malaysia was on upward trajectory and within three years has touched US$2 billion mark. "Both sides enhanced cooperation in agriculture, veterinary and halal sectors. Two MoUs and one letter of intent were signed between two countries last year to enhance cooperation in agriculture. In veterinary, we are helping Malaysia establish a pilot project to breed Nili Ravi Bufflo of Pakistan.” He said Pakistan will start exporting beef to Malaysia and a Malaysian delegation expected to attend International Halal Conference from March 1-3, 2011 in Karachi.

CIMB Keeps Malaysia Construction Sector Overweight

CIMB Research keeps Malaysia’s construction sector as Overweight, anchored by the public transportation upgrade theme; “we remain positive on the construction sector in 2011 and are encouraged by the progress of the MYR36 billion-MYR40 billion KL MRT (Kuala Lumpur mass rapid transit project), MYR7 billion LRT (light rail transit) extension and upgrade, and other outstanding jobs under the 10th Malaysia Plan (a 5-year infrastructure blueprint from 2011-2015) which are at various stages of tSee Titleer and proposal evaluations,” says analyst Sharizan Rosely. He notes this suggests project awards are likely to dominate newsflow in the next 6-9 months. “The potential approval of the MYR10 billion-MYR12 billion high-speed rail project is another boon to the sector,” he adds. He notes Gamuda (5398.KU) and WCT (9679.KU) remain house’s top picks for the sector. Gamuda is last flat at MYR3.94 while WCT is +0.3% at MYR3.21.

Construction Projects Flow in 2011

During 4Q 2010, there were a series of positive news brought into construction sector. These news could possibly bring some cheers for local contractors during the "award ceremony" soon. To summarize it, let us examined and explored the news highlighted in 4Q 2010 for construction sector:

# KL Mass Rapid Transit, with the cabinet approving 1 of the 3 lines proposed, which will run from Sg Buloh to Kajang. It is said that the Government will set up an SPV to fund the RM36bn job via bonds and other capital market instruments. Tenders for the Sg Buloh-Kajang line will be open in April while construction will commence in July. Gamuda-MMC JV, which was recently appointed as Project Delivery Partner, to be the ultimate beneficiary of the MRT. The JV is only allowed to tender for the tunneling works estimated at RM14bn.

# Construction of the RM5bn Warisan Merdeka development is said to be slated to commence this year for implementation in 3 phases over 10 years. Amongst the local contractors, we think IJM is in the best position to participate in the tower portion given its track record with high-rise buildings in KL city center. Green building specialist Putrajaya Perdana could also benefit from the non-tower portions.

# A feasibility study is currently being conducted to evaluate the KL-Singapore High Speed Rail and will be concluded by mid-year, which cost RM10-12bn. Magnetic levitation technology was being proposed. OSK gather that YTL Corp has made proposals for several portions of the project.

# Brazail based Vale SA, the world's largest iron ore producer will invest RM467mil in Malaysia this year. The investment will involve the construction of a maritime terminal and distribution center to transport iron ore from Teluk Rubiah, Perak. We understand that Muhibbah Engineering is the only local contractor that has been pre-qualified for some of the packages.

# Bintulu Port has been invited by Sarawak government to submit a detailed proposal for the Samalaju Port. If implemented, we think Hock Seng Lee could win some packages given its marine engineering expertise.

# Malaysia and India have signed an MOU on technical assistance for road development which could enable Malaysian contractors to participate in the latter's projects. We see IJM as the clear winner from this MOU given its track record of building more than 1,400km of roads in India.

# During the Big 5 International Building and Construction Show in Abu Dhabi, it was reported that some more than USD23bn worth of construction contracts are ready to be awarded in the UAE. We view WCT as the ultimate beneficiary from contracts flow from the UAE given its past record in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Qatar

The Malaysian Construction Industry Excellence Awards (MCIEA)

The Malaysian Construction Industry Excellence Awards (MCIEA) is intended to be the Malaysian premier accolades for all round excellence in the industry. The MCIEA 2010 gala dinner was recently held by CIDB Malaysia at CIDB Convention Center. Graced by YB Dato’ Shaziman Abu Mansor, the Minister of Works, the event saw seventeen awards handed out to deserving recipients.

The main objectives of MCIEA 2010 were to recognize individual or/ and organisations achievement in the industry, while providing a platform for healthy competition amongst industry players in the quest for excellence in the industry.

During the gala dinner, the MCIEA 2010 presented the following categories:

1. Contractor Awards

2. Special Awards

3. R&D Project of the Year Award

4. International Achievement Award

5. Individual Awards and

6. Contractor of the Year Award

PR Concept handled all media relations activity for the event. A total of 22 media members from various organisations attended the dinner. Apart from the pre-event and event coverage, PR Concept also successfully pitched for CIDB and MCIEA 2010 to be featured on Astro Awani – Agenda and BizMalaysia RTM 1 as post event publicity.

The Future of Malaysian Construction Industry

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "The Future of Construction in Malaysia to 2014" report to their offering.

“The Malaysian construction industry registered a CAGR of 10.81% over the review period. The industry which grew at 23.1% in 2008 slowed down in 2009 and grew by just 1.6% in 2009 because of the economic slowdown. To revive the economic growth, the Malaysian government introduced two stimulus packages, one in November 2008 and another in March 2009, to save its economy from contracting further. It had allocated the incentives between various industries so that there would not be a sharp spike in unemployment rate and consequent fall in consumer confidence. The funds allocated for infrastructure were largely routed towards strengthening the Malaysian rural infrastructure as well as developing the nationwide communications infrastructure.

The government plans to make Malaysia a knowledge rich economy and hence invested in enhancing broadband connectivity across the nation. The government started initiatives like Private Finance Initiative (PFI) through which it would financially support private sector players to take up projects of public interest. These steps were taken to bring in more efficiency, professionalism, and expertise into the government projects. However, the Malaysian construction industry is expected to witness a modest growth and achieve a CAGR of 2.50% over the forecast period.

Product Synopsis:

* Top level overview of the Malaysian construction industry

* A breakdown of the Malaysian construction industry by markets valued from 2005 through 2009 and forecast from 2009 through 2014

* A breakdown of the markets by categories valued from 2005 through 2009 and forecast from 2009 through 2014

* Details of top companies active across the Malaysian construction industry

* Latest news covering the Malaysian construction industry in the last 12 months

* Deals settled across various companies active in Malaysian construction industry

This report is the result of WMIs extensive market, company and deals research covering the Malaysian construction industry. It provides detailed analysis of both historic and forecast construction industry values, at market and category level, analysis of the leading companies in the industry, and an annual review of major events in the industry from the previous 12 months. With a combination of textual commentary, analysis, data tables and charts, the report covers the following markets:

* Commercial Construction

* Industrial Construction

* Infrastructure Construction

* Institutional Construction

* Residential Construction

Data for the historic years (2005-2008), full year 2009, forecasts from 2009 through 2014 along with growth rates is provided. The performance of each construction market is analysed. Latest news on construction industry and markets is also provided. Also included the top construction industry company profiles.

Construction, property sectors will benefit

DESPITE the fact that the proposed Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) is not a pronouncement of the Government dishing out contracts it would pay for, analysts have highlighted the construction and property sectors as key beneficiaries.

Recall that the ETP requires the private sector to come up with most of the funding for the projects. However, it is still unclear if the Government will provide any kind of guarantee to the companies that are awarded the contracts.

In any event, the stocks that have benefited the most from the ETP seems to be Gamuda Bhd and MMC Corp Bhd, the two companies that had earlier submitted an ambitious plan to build a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project in the capital city.

That’s because, as HwangDBS Vickers report puts it, the MRT “has received a high level of commitment, increasing the project’s approval.” The research house adds that the RM36bil MRT project can double the order book of Gamuda and triple that of MMC’s. It also says the construction sector as a whole will benefit from the MRT project, given its sheer size.

Meanwhile, CIMB Research points out: “The MRT project is massive and represents the single largest contract in Malaysian history, beating the previous largest project, the RM12.5bil northern double-tracking, which is also being built by Gamuda-MMC.”

CIMB notes that Gamuda has the expertise in tunnelling and that the tunnelling portion of the MRT project is worth RM13bil to RM14bil.

The research house also says that should the MRT project take off, “there will be plenty of work to go around and other major players such as Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB), IJM Land Bhd and WCT Bhd should also be able to ride on it.”

OSK Research points out that of the 12 national key economic activities, the one on Greater KL had attracted the most interest as it had a scale model of KL and all the new proposed property developments, as well as more tangible projects such as the KL MRT and the river of life project, “with high-level financial figures available.” OSK adds that these projects are the most likely to kick off first.

The property sector has also been highlighted as another big winner.

This is on the basis that if the MRT project is carried out, it may lift the value of properties in central KL by improving underground connectivity and enhancing the shopping experience, analysts say.

Furthermore, the Greater KL plans for 10 million people living in the city by 2020 from 6 million currently. Of the additional residents, it is estimated that around 500,000 are expected to be expatriates or Malaysians returning from abroad.

“All in, it is estimated that a million homes will have to be constructed to meet the requirements of an enlarged population base,” notes CIMB.

HwangDBS Vickers points out that the Greater KL initiative should benefit owners of large land bank in KL that include Bolton Bhd, SP Setia Bhd and DNP Holdings Bhd.

The plan also includes the redevelopment of the RMAF base at Sungai Besi, Dataran Perdana, the Matrade development at Hartamas, the old Pudu Jail site and the redevelopment of Kampung Baru.

CIMB also singles out the High-Speed Rail project from KL to Singapore and Penang, which has been identified in the ETP as one of the projects that has partial or near commitment from a named investor.

The research house also highlights that the ETP mentioned Johor Baru as being listed as a geographic location that is a driver of economic activity.

“If the High-Speed Rail project materialises, it could boost property prices in Kuala Lumpur significantly, as values are far behind Singapore’s and travelling time between the two cities could be reduced to 2.4 hours. The rail project will also benefit property prices in Iskandar Malaysia as the proposed train will stop in Johor Baru before proceeding to Singapore.

“What is surprising from the map of the proposed project is that phase two extends to Penang island, which is good news for the Penang property market too,” CIMB says in a report.

It adds that while many developers have land in Johor, the biggest beneficiary will be UEM Land, due to its vast and strategic landbank in Iskandar.

“Arguably, UEM Land’s 10,000-acre land bank in Nusajaya is at the heart of Iskandar and the proposed MRT from Singapore will also pass through its project.”

CIMB says other developers with a sizeable land bank in Johor include SP Setia, Mah Sing Bhd, UM Land Bhd, KSL Holdings Bhd, Bandar Raya Developments Bhd, Mulpha International Bhd, IJM Land, Tebrau Teguh Bhd, Plenitude Bhd and Daiman Development Bhd.

As for developers with exposure to high-end project in KL that may garner interest from Singaporean buyers, they include Eastern & Oriental Bhd, Sunrise Bhd, UM Land, Bandar Raya, Mah Sing and Glomac Bhd, CIMB says.

Genting Bhd and Genting Malaysia Bhd can also gain if Singaporeans choose to take the high-speed train ride here to a casino that they needn’t pay fees to enter, unlike the two integrated resorts in Singapore, analysts say.

Building materials companies such as Ann Joo Resources Bhd and Malaysia Steel Works Bhd, and Southern Steel Bhd as well as the big cement players such as YTL Cement Bhd, Tasek Corp Bhd and Lafarge Malayan Cement Bhd may also gain.

A head of research at a broking house adds that other beneficiaries may include education stocks for private schools such as Help International Corp Bhd, PIE Industrial Bhd for the focus on the electronics and electrical sector, MyEG Services Bhd for the broadband and electronic government push and ETI Tech Corp Bhd for the focus on renewable energy.

- Malaysia Economic Transformation Program

Malaysia pushing for more Middle East construction projects

DUBAI: Malaysian contractors are currently working on 51 projects worth US$10bil in the Middle East and are eyeing for more amid a projected upswing in construction demand.

The majority of projects are in United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Syria, Iran, Jordan and Yemen, the Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) said in a statement yesterday. In value terms, the Middle East contributed the highest share of 42% among the 614 overseas projects worth US$24bil in which Malaysian contractors have been involved from 1997 to 2009.

“Malaysian expertise in infrastructure building has been deployed in 73 projects across the Middle East, including landmark initiatives such as Burj Khalifa, Al Reem Island, Dubai Metro, Dubai Mall and Meydan Race Course,” Matrade chief executive officer Datuk Noharuddin Nordin said in the statement.

Construction companies in Malaysia foresee substantially improved demand from the Middle East as infrastructure outlay continued to top national budgets, it said.

Datuk Noharuddin Nordin ... ‘Malaysian expertise in infrastructure building has been deployed in 73 projects across the Middle East.’

Matrade cited a Business Monitor International study forecasting that the global construction industry could grow between 1% and more than 5% up to 2014.

The projected increase was on account of growth expectations in the Middle East, North Africa, China and India.

Matrade said Malaysian construction companies, which already have an international project portfolio of US$15bil, were aiming to lead the revival in key markets.

To seek further inroads in the Middle East, the Malaysian construction sector will attend the third Malaysia Services Exhibition (MSE) 2010 to be held at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre from April 13 to 15.

“The unique advantages we offer in terms of resources, skills, quality, cost and experience in mega projects give us a competitive edge over leading providers in the United States, Europe and other Asian countries,” Noharuddin said.

Organised by Matrade, MSE 2010 will showcase the world-class capabilities of Malaysian companies specialising in eight service clusters: professional services, oil and gas, construction, information and communications technology, healthcare, franchising, education and specialised training, and financial services.

The three-day exhibition will be attended by 150 establishments including 130 service providers, 12 professional associations and eight government agencies.

A major addition to Malaysia’s construction services portfolio at MSE 2010 will be environmentally friendly architecture and engineering. — Bernama

15th Asia Construct Conference 2009, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Held from 19th to 20th October 2009 at the Renaissance Hotel Kuala Lumpur, the 15th AsiaConstruct Conference involving 300 local and foreign participants was a second-timeround event hosted by CIDB, since 2000. Graced by Y. Bhg. Datuk Thomas George, Secretary General and Ministry of Works Malaysia, country reports were presented as well as theme papers based on the conference theme of ‘Integration of Value Chain in

the Construction Industry’ by the member countries, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore,Vietnam, including Malaysia.

Hong Kong shared experiences on “feed-forward partnering approach”, adoption of value management in public works projects, use of voluntary adjudication in solving contractual disputes, combining the Environmental Management System [EMS] with the Quality Management System [QMS] to form an Integrated Management System [IMS]

and promotion of the Private Sector Involvement [PSI] to facilitate Public Private Partnership and Outsourcing.

Singapore’s emphasis was on recycling material supply. In expanding their concept of the supply chain management,the integration agenda was top of the list, covering efforts on maximising resource recovery of concrete waste and driving demand by increasing the usage of recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) through Construction & Demolition (C & D). Steps taken included a demolition and quality protocol, reward

schemes (Green Mark scheme), incentives (funding) and demo projects.

For Malaysia, its focus centred on the Malaysian CIMP’s recommendation of partnering as an approach and CIDB’s intention on fulfi lling this recommendation, with the identifi cation of partnering as one of the strategies to integrate the construction industry supply chain. As Malaysia is still new to this approach, CIDB has studied viable partnering methods in the United Kingdom, Australia and Hong Kong which have recorded good outcomes, and will adapt them to suit the Malaysian construction industry.

It will be Vietnam’s turn to host the next AsiaConstruct Conference in 2010. All country reports and theme papers can be downloaded from CIDB’s website, www.cidb.gov.

Exposure Malaysian construction firms in Dubai ....

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian construction companies are not likely to be hit by the debt crisis affecting Dubai, said industry players. Dubai has been struggling to ease fears of a massive debt default after it moved to delay repayments at two flagship firms, which has shook confidence in the Middle East as a centre for investment.

Master Builders Association Malaysia (MBAM) president Ng Kee Leen said most of the Malaysian construction companies had either pulled out or were at the tail-end of completing their contruction projects there.

“There aren’t many local construction companies left in Dubai,” he told StarBiz yesterday.

Meanwhile IJM Corp Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Krishnan Tan said the company had already completed the bulk of its projects in Dubai.

Ng Kee Leen (right) ... ‘There aren’t many Malaysian construction firms left in Dubai.’

“IJM is not affected. We don’t have much there (construction projects in Dubai). We’re almost done with the construction of Fortune Tower at Jumeirah Lake in Dubai,” he said, adding that currently there was no problem with payments.

A Gamuda Bhd top official said the company was not significantly exposed to the fallout in the construction sector in Dubai.

Interior fit-out (IFO) company LCL Corp Bhd founder and executive chairman Datuk Low Chin Meng said payments were generally slow in Dubai.

“We will shift our focus on interior fit-out (IFO) contracts in cash-rich Abu Dhabi, after the completion of projects in Dubai,” he said.

The company has projects such as Atlantis The Palm Hotel, Dubai Metro System, Dubai Mall and Dubai Marina Hotel.

Concern over the level of debt held by the Government and its affiliated companies had sent jitters throughout the Gulf region and had affected investors confidence level.

Earlier in the year the Dubai’s stock market was down 60% and many residents believed that the property market was on the brink of collapse.

Dubai had borrowed billions to finance its infrastructure and construction companies such as Dubai World, and Emirates Airline.

A local property analyst said Dubai was likely to be on the road to recovery.

“The worst is likely over as the market has bottomed out. The economy was very bad at the start of the year. The housing market fell into a slump and property prices fell as much as 50% even in prime location and many expatriates left the place,” he said.

Early this year, WCT Bhd lost a US$1.3bil (RM4.6bil) contract to build a racetrack in Dubai it had won back in 2007 as the client alleged that WCT and its partner Arabtec Holding PSJC was behind schedule. However, WCT disputes the accusation and is presently fighting to reclaim RM300mil that includes advance payment of RM178mil and a performance bond.

It also seems that the Iskandar growth region in southern Johor will not be affected by the Dubai debt crisis. It was reported that Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said this was because only one company from Dubai had invested in a real estate sector in the growth region. He said the company, Damac Properties, was involved in a property project on an 8ha site in the Iskandar region. He added that most of the investors in the growth area are from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi and that the Dubai company had yet to start operation.

Malaysian Construction industry to see 3.5% growth

PETALING JAYA: The construction industry is expected to register 3.5% growth this year, despite the current global economic crisis, according to Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.

He said when many sectors were facing a growth contraction, the local construction sector was still resilient and a pillar of strength to the Malaysian economy.

“The construction sector registered a growth of 1.1% in the first quarter and improved further to 2.8% in the second,” he said at the official opening of the Second Malaysian Construction Summit 2009 yesterday.

Husni said the present economic crisis provided the construction industry with an opportunity to reinvent itself.

“We see consolidation within the local construction industry with smaller players merging, to compete more effectively. The industry as a whole will need to take stock of its position in the market and reassess its financial strength, technical expertise, branding and reputation,” he noted.

Construction players should restructure themselves and invest in new technology and systems to build capacity to be competitive locally or abroad, he said, adding that the industry also needed to reposition itself to survive in a competitive market dictated by demand-supply forces, citing green designs and technological advancement as the way forward.

“Buildings and infrastructure works of the future will have to be sustainable in terms of energy usage, material use and technology adoption.”

At the government level, the minister said: “We will continue to promote public-private partnership initiatives in line with the aspiration to increase the role of the latter (private sector) in the economy.”

Master Builders Association Malaysia president Ng Kee Leen said the outlook for the construction sector in the next two years should be better than this year, buoyed by global economic recovery and the stimulus packages’ funding coming onstream for larger projects.

“Work on the extension of the light rail transit system, revival of mega projects in the Iskandar region as well as hydro-electric dams and rural development in east Malaysia have been speeded up,” he said.

Ng said in the third and fourth quarters this year much of the funds from the stimulus packages would be spent on smaller infrastructure projects to support small and medium enterprises.

Malaysia construction sector outlook 'good'

Results posted by companies in the second quarter of 2009 indicate that the outlook is good for firms in the construction and property sector.The Malaysian Insider reported that the figures recorded during this period were "better-than-expected" among many corporations.

It noted that many analysts are also optimistic about the banking sector in the south-east Asian nation.The publication cited a market focus report from HwangDBS, which looked favourably on the construction industry in Malaysia.

"It expects positive news flow in the coming 12 months on the back of pump-priming efforts to throw the spotlight on the sector," the Malaysian Insider said.

This was despite the sector turning in a range-bound performance in the preceding quarter.

Last month, DSR Asset Management asserted that investors could find they get better value for money when purchasing property in Malaysia. The firm claimed that the exchange rate for the ringgit against the dollar, pound and euro could make it particularly attractive to Western buyers