A total of 14,835 of inspected employers, only 26.1 % of them met the Workers Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446). Therefore, more than 70% of the employers are facing difficulties in complying the new regulations. Perhaps , some employers deny to follow the instruction. But, it’s not many of them. Unfortunately, the lawmaker doesn’t know about it. Here are the obstacles when we apply for the hostel approval (Surat Penginapan).
If you make use of building others than house, then you need to apply for “Change of Activities” from the local authorities (Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan or PBT). Probably, you may think it’s easy to get the approval from the local authorities. Then, you were wrong because different local authorities at different state has different application guidelines. Yet, some local authorities don’t have the guidelines for that .
After getting the approval from local authorities, then you need to renovate the hostel according to the approved floor plan . But, that’s not the end. The related technical department , like BOMBA, TNB, INDAH WATER, etc. will inspect your hostel when your renovation is completed. Therefore, the inspection process cannot be done in short time. The full process is same as building your own hostel.
What if you can’t get the approval from the local authorities? Sorry, you need to allocate the workers to other places. The most ideal accommodation is Centralized Labor Quarters (CLQ) if any. However, your maintenance cost will be much higher. Moreover, you need to arrange transport for the workers. Due to that, you need to spend average RM300++ for each worker.
How about saving cost & bypassing the complicated application of “Change of Activities” ? Then, you can look for the houses. But, you can’t allocate as many workers as much at one house liked dormitory due to the maximum room seize measure for each worker. On top of that, many house owners don’t want to rent their house to be used as workers hostel. Besides that, some local authorities don’t allow foreign workers to stay at residential area.
As conclusions, the process is time consuming and it’s costly. Likely, you need to hire a expert, liked architect or consultant to draw a floor plan and renovate the hostel if necessary. Last but not least , we urge the lawmaker shall correspond with the related bodies to simplify the process. So , employers can meet the Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446).
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