KUALA LUMPUR: The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (Rehda) Malaysia has called for the exclusion of the building industry from paying the levy imposed by the Human Resources Development Corporation (HRD Corp) following recent news that have put the latter under the spotlight. 

Rehda president Datuk Ho Hon Sang said  the levy is unfavourable to industry players.

"This is detrimental to the industry, especially now under present situation where the building industry, like other industries, is struggling to stay afloat. 

"The imposition of the additional levy to the building industry has affected companies financial adversely and we strongly believe now is the most opportune time to reassess this requirement," he said. 

Ho opined that the levy is one of the many contributing factors to increasing construction costs, and industry players need to be exempted and returned the situation to how it was prior to March 1, 2021. 

"We hope the government can seriously consider looking into the matter, in line with the efforts to reduce the cost of doing business.

"We are prepared to engage the government and the relevant entities to further expound our point of view. Rehda will continue to encourage our members to uphold our nation-building role of providing quality, affordable homes for the rakyat in a timely and sustainable manner," he said. 

He noted the industry is under the governance of the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) which also collects levy for training and development purposes, consistent with the amended CIDB Act 1994 (Act 520). 

"For years, developers are already required to pay a 0.125 per cent levy on the total value of construction work to CIDB. According to CIDB Annual Report 2022, the board collected RM216.3 million levy from industry players, and we estimate the 2023 figure to exceed that given the growth of the country's GDP by 3.7 per cent last year, as reported by Bank Negara Malaysia," he said. 

He added that architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, town planners and land surveyors are already obligated to pay their annual renewal of registration fees and are also subject to compulsory learning and training under the Continuing Professional Development programme as approved by their respective Boards.

https://www.nst.com.my/business/corporate/2024/07/1077422/rehda-asks-hrd-corp-levy-waiver