GEORGE TOWN – Penang is urging the Home Ministry to allow engineers in the South East Asia region to work here, as a short-term solution to the acute shortage of skilled labour in the state.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said that not only Penang, but the whole country is facing this predicament.
It is believed that there are up to 40,000 vacancies for engineers in the industrial sector.
Pending efforts to increase the output of engineers through education institutions, Chow said that alternatively, the country can temporarily hire foreign skilled labour.
“The manpower needs is a federal policy, which we hope can be fine-tuned to meet the demand,” Chow said after launching Phase II of the Penang 2030 website at the Penang Institute, one of Malaysia’s major think tanks.
The website offers exciting new content aimed at establishing a creative industry segment, an avenue to reduce domestic violence, a trash-free environment and an industrial engagement to produce more entrepreneurs.
In conjunction with the launch, Penang has also declared that the Middle Bank seashore off Gurney Drive will be protected to prevent any environmental degradation as part of the state’s Vision 2030.
“We want to preserve greenery to see Penang prosper amid better living quality.”
Chow said that despite various obstacles, the Penang Transport Master Plan will continue, with construction having now begun for the first major highway linking Air Itam with Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway.
Penang will resubmit an application for environment impact assessment’s (EIA) approval for the Penang South Islands reclamation scheme.
Also, there will be an application for a juridical review of the decision by the Appeals Board of the Environment Department to rescind the previous EIA approval.
Chow hoped that the community here would access the website to better understand what the Penang Vision 2030 stands for.
Due to Covid-19, Chow admitted that the digitisation process in Penang needs to be accelerated to tap the online resources.
“This means that the digital economy is the wave of the future, which Penang needs to tap.”
Chow said that the website gathers all the work done under the auspices of the Vision 2030, which is Chow’s grand design to bring Penang forward in the new millennium. – The Vibes, November 5, 2021
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