Mah Sing Bhd Chief Project Officer William Ow (tallest) with Malaysia Housing and Local Government Minister Puan Zuraida Kamaruddin (in white) visiting Sany’s factory in Changsha, Hunan, China.

CHINA: Mah Sing Group Bhd senior management team recently explored opportunities with Chinese companies in setting up a permanent industrialised Building System (IBS) precast concrete plant in Southville City, KL South.

Together with Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, Mah Sing visited Sany Heavy Industry Co. Ltd, a Chinese multinational heavy equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Changsha, Hunan Province. Sany will potentially be able to assist in the setting up of an IBS manufacturing plant and transfer technology on manufacturing precast concrete components.

Other than Sany, Mah Sing Group Bhd also discussed with one of the Top 100 Enterprises in China’s construction industry which had completed more than 800 commercials, institutional and large scale residential projects since 1958, Nantong Sijian Construction Group Co. Ltd. Mah Sing Group Bhd is exploring Nantong Sijan’s role in training Malaysian contractors on the installation of IBS components.

A permanent plant would be able to produce a range of IBS components from precast concrete panels, concrete slab columns, concrete wall panels, beams and other products. It will enhance Mah Sing Group Bhd’s offerings to local home buyers by promoting the sustainable way of using IBS as well as provide the company with the ability to market and install IBS components for their own projects.

Mah Sing Group Bhd founder Tan Sri Datuk Sri Leong Hoy Kum said that the reliability of IBS makes it possible for improved planning and even then the completion of projects ahead of schedule in some instances.

“We plan to set this plant up in Southville City and adopt IBS for some of the upcoming projects, to add more value to our purchaser,” added Leong.

“IBS is a more cost-effective, faster and less labour intensive method to build more affordable houses especially for the B40 group,” said Zuraida.

According to Mah Sing, it is time to adopt IBS in more of their developments, and they are looking for the right partners who have the expertise and specialised technology in support of the governments’ direction.

Besides using IBS in their projects, Leong said they could potentially bid for government projects including affordable homes and large scale. The successful implementation of IBS results in faster project completion because IBS is an innovative way and sustainable technique which increases the efficiency, quality and productivity of projects.

By using the IBS system, it will reduce the dependency on manual labour required at the construction site as well as shorten the construction time to allow an earlier return on investment.