Policy frameworks to address key

mobility challenges of safety,

sustainability and efficiency in Malaysia
Introduction
Mobility, especially intra-urban mobility, of both freight
and people, has been one of the major issues faced by
any cities, developed or otherwise. It has been
discussed at length at major seminars worldwide and
form the major part of any land transport master
planning of any city. Similarly, putting in place proper
implementation of policy and regulatory framework for
an effective, safe and sustainable mobility will prove to
be an even bigger issue for the developing world. The
first thing that comes to mind will be the multitude of
agencies responsible for the implementation of such a
plan. Imagine the coordination effort that will be
required when these agencies have their own set of
priorities and operating processes and procedures.
There are of course other issues and these will be
discussed elsewhere in the paper.
The Malaysias construction industry builds the mobility
infrastructure and environment that allows free and
efficient flow of goods and people. A sustainable
construction
industry,
practising
sustainable
development and green construction will undoubtedly
produce sustainable products, buildings, facilities and
infrastructure that promote the mobility objectives that
have been established.
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Land Transport Master Plan 2010 -2030 and

why it is needed
The recently concluded Land Transport Master Plan
2010 -2030, seeks to support Malaysias efforts to
become an inclusive and sustainable high-income
nation by delivering a high-impact land public transport
transformation. It provides a comprehensive strategy
for this transformation to achieve the vision of making
public transport the peoples choice for mobility by
2030. Of course, to be the people choice for mobility,
the transportation system must be safe, efficient and
sustainable. We will see how the Master Plan tries to
achieve these mobility goals from the perspective of
policy and regulatory framework.
An effective public transportation system will form the
fundamental building block for moving people and
goods from their place of origin to where they are
needed; enables access to employment, education and
entertainment; and connects urban and rural areas.
They are essential not just for enabling economic
growth but also sustaining a quality of life that all
Malaysian aspire.
In Malaysia, travel vehicle demand grew from 13 million
trips per day in 1991 to 40 million in 2010. BY 2030,
this figure is expected to reach a staggering 133
million. With urbanization expected to reach 75 per
cent by 2020, there is a need to put in place an
efficient, safe and smooth flow of people. All this puts
tremendous pressure on the land public transport
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system to meet the mobility and connectivity

requirements closely linked to the social and economic
development agenda. Everybody is aware that public
transportation is more affordable and mitigates more
effectivelly, traffic congestion and pollution problems
caused by private vehicles on the road. A system must
therefore be found to sustaining an urban mobility
which is efficient and safe.

Strategic initiative of the Land Transport

Master Plan
This is important because on these are initiatives, a
number of policy that are to be in place to achieve the
goals of the Master Plan have been established. The
strategic imperatives are;
1. Enhance Land Public Transport connectivity across
urban conurbations and access in rural areas
2. Ensure affordable and accessible public transport
services by enhancing industry structure
3. Enhance service levels and convenience by
improving monitoring and enforcement, as well as
soft integration
4. Enhancing safety levels of public transport
5. Reduce Congestion, Pollution, and Increase
Incidence of Cycling and Walking at the First/Last
Mile
These strategic initiatives all will contribute towards the
safe, efficient and sustainable mobility.

Policy Statement
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Based on the above strategies, the Master Plan has

identified a number of policy statements that must be
in place. Some of these include;
1. Enhance urban connectivity
2. Build sustainable land public transport model
which provide affordable services
3. Increase accessibility for the mobility-impaired
4. Improve service standards for operators, drivers
and vehicles
5. Ensure high standard of safety and security for
operators
6. Encourage environmental sustainability
7. Optimize public transport infrastructure
On the policy for encouraging environmental
sustainability, the Master Plan calls for any new land
public transport development to undergo a thorough
environmental impact assessment. This will ensure that
environmental damage is minimized and mitigated.
Green features will also be adopted in the design of
new buildings. For instance the proposed Rapid Transit
System for Johore-Singapore Rapid Transit Link
terminal in Johore Bahru will include environmentally
friendly features.

Planning
and
constrution
transport Infrastructure

of

mobiity

Now that we have understood the strategies and

policies that have to be in place to ensure a safe,
efficient and sustainable mobility, we will now examine
in a bit more details, the planning and construction of
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these mobility or transport infrastructure that will, at

the end of the day, result in the production these
infrastructure which will have direct impact of safe,
efficient and sustainable mobility.
There are many inputs into the construction processes
that result in the creation of a building or infrastructure.
These include labour, material, and use of equipment
and of the other systems that bind the processes
together.

Labour
Under CIDB Act 520, it is unlawful for anyone to work at
any construction site without first registering with CIDB
and having secured a Green Card, a card that
authorises a worker to enter a construction site and
perform the work for which he has been certified. A
worker skilled in a trade must only perform that
particular trade. This ensures that the worker will
produce the right quality of work with minimum
wastage and at the same time he is aware of the risks
associated with that particular kind of work. The
premise is simple, a safe and quality output need to be
produced by registered and certified construction
worker

Materials
Materials routinely constitute more than 50% of
construction cost. The choice of material has big impact
on quality and safety of finished products. Under the
revised CIDB Act 520, it has been made mandatory for
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a number of key materials to be manufactured to the

standards meeting the Malaysian or equivalent
international standard. The use of these kinds of
materials will then require stringent enforcement by
CIDB and other related agencies to ensure compliance.
The same goes for imported building materials where
only products and materials that have been certified to
meet Malaysian Standards are permitted entry into
Malaysia. The premise is again, safe and quality
construction can be achieved through the use of safe
and certified products and materials.

Tools and Equipment and other advanced

construction technology
Malaysian construction is still predominantly labour
intensive. This has diminished labour productivity and
too much labour is required to carry the tasks. Other
countries have benefited from the adoption of modern
construction equipment and tools which have
drastically reduced the requirement of manual labour.
CIDB is actively promoting mechanisation and
automation in the industry to enhance not only
productivity but also quality, efficiency and reduction in
cost and time of construction. Where possible, the use
of Industrialised Building System or similar technology,
where the bulk of building or infrastructure components
are manufactured at the factory, brought to site and
assembled by a team of experienced assemblers, are
recommended and even encouraged.

Quality Certification
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The International accepted quality certification is the

ISO 9001. A contractor certified with ISO 9001 is
expected to routinely produce quality outputs. CIDB has
been working with the industry and other government
agencies to enhance the awareness and adoption of
ISO 9001 among the Malaysian contractors. Up till
today Malaysia has around 2140 contractors who have
secured ISO 9001 certifications. As more and more
Malaysian contractors gained the
ISO 9001
certification, we can expect our buildings and
infrastructure to be built to higher quality and of course
they will be built with better safety measures as well.
Still on the issue of quality, the revised CIDB Act 520
now requires the contractor constructing a facility to be
responsible for the safety of his construction beyond
the handover period. Previously, contractors cannot be
held responsible for construction failures of the project
if it happened outside the defects liability period. Now,
no more. A construction failure occurring say five years
down the line and attributed to the failures of the
contractor can result in the contractors being held
responsible. This safety nets for the client is expected
to bring measureable benefits and relief for the clients
who are now more assured that the contractor be held
accountable for the performance of his creations.

Environment assessment tools

The environment equivalent to the quality certification
is ISO 14000. Again, the compelling reason to
encourage Malaysian contractors and designers to be
ISO 14000 certified is the assurance that the output of
designers and contractors with ISO 14000 will be a
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tighter conformance to the environmental requirement,

thus giving rise to a more environmentally sustainable
products. Again, CIDB is at the front of a national effort
to encourage the Malaysian construction players to
adapt the good management practices of ISO 14000
and to get their efforts recognised for securing this
internationally recognised certification.
As a general guideline for the clients and designers to
develop an energy efficient infrastructure, CIDB has
come up with GreenPass Green Performance
Assessment System in Construction, a performance
based rating system that assess and rates the impact
of building construction upon the environment.
Construction that meets the GreenPass requirement will
no doubt be energy efficient and highly sustainable.

Conclusion
Malaysi has the strategies and policies to guide us in
achieving a safe, efficient and sustainable mobility.
With the population growth and rapid urbanization,
Malaysia must deal effectively with the impending
growth of mobility among the goods and the people.
The Land Transport Master Plan charts the framework
to achieve this. The construction industry that is
responsible for the physical infrastructure to support
and enable the mobility of goods and people must
continuously review and improve its performance to
meet the mobility targets. Policy framework is in place
for an effective implementation of the action plans.
However, there must be coordinated effort in
implementing these policies. Until and unless the
efforts are tightly coordinated in a transparent and
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seamless manner, our aim for a safe, efficient and

sustainable mobility will remain a dream.