Engineers ready to help with maintenance

The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: There are 60,000 engineers who are ready and waiting to help solve the Government's woes in dealing with maintenance problems at its buildings and infrastructure.

Institute of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) president Datuk Keizrul Abdullah said that a proposal on better maintenance would be submitted to the Government within a month outlining the problems and coming up with suggestions on standard operating procedures.

He said that engineers would be able to aid as they were trained to “think” about maintenance, including in structure, electrical and telecommunications matters.

“We are prepared and offering the Government our help,” he told a press conference after attending the IEM open house.

To include the engineers in the process of maintenance, he said that those from the private sector could be enlisted as consultants while the Public Service Department (PSD) would have to have more posts created within the civil service for public sector engineers to allow this.

He urged PSD to make the necessary changes where engineers be made secretaries-general in ministries or hold higher posts and subsequently help solve maintenance problems.