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Stalls at last year’s MSE.

Malaysia to show off the best of its services

01 March 2009

MORE than 200 Malaysian service providers from 13 different sectors, including construction, are exhibiting at the second Malaysia Services Exhibition (MSE 2009) to be held at the Dubai Airport Expo Exhibition Centre this month (March 17 to 19).

Organised by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), the event will showcase leading Malaysian service providers from construction, engineering, oil and gas, power generation, financial services, healthcare, ICT, logistics, transportation and shipbuilding, franchise, professional services, education, designing and art.
“Rapid development in Malaysia in the last two decades has produced many Malaysian construction industry players of international standard in terms of capabilities, experiences and expertise,” says a spokesman for the MSE. “The type of projects successfully completed in Malaysia by these players and hence, their areas of expertise cover a wide range of scope including infrastructure and building, ports, airports, water suppliers, power plants, telecommunication and mass rapid transport systems.”
Malaysian construction companies have successfully secured and implemented projects of various size and magnitude overseas. As of last December, Malaysian contractors have undertaken 505 projects globally with total value of RM99 billion ($26.65 billion) and are currently working on 105 projects worth $18.85 billion, he says.
The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region offers ample opportunities to contractors to tap into. “To date, Malaysian construction companies have undertaken 43 projects and are currently implementing 35 projects totalling $11.8 billion in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iran and Yemen.
Among the notable projects are the New Doha International Airport in Qatar worth $698 million; a mixed-use development project in Al Reem Island, Abu Dhabi ($483 million); Jizan Economic City ($2.9 billion) and Shoaiba independent water and power project ($2.4 billion) in Saudi Arabia; Damascus International Airport ($43.5 million), and sewerage and water treatment plants ($64.4 million) in Syria; mixed-use developments ($402 million), and maintenance and rehabilitation of main road from Tripoli to Gharian ($34.9 million) in Libya.
This apart, there are several other projects in the pipeline consisting of residential, commercial and highway construction that are in the midst of negotiations and expected to take off this year, says the organiser.
Speaking about the current economic scenario, the spokesman says: “This slowdown is as much a setback as a necessary cooling period. Malaysian service providers are using this lull in global economy to build capacity in preparation of the next wave by brushing up on technical know-how, and sharpening expertise in areas such as arbitration and adjudication that is seeing strong demands during these trying times. Firms are extending beyond ISO 9000 into Six Sigma, going deeper into value management, supply-chain management, green building index and keeping tab of the latest in information technology.”
The Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) record shows Middle East to be the main market for the export of construction services.
Apart from the services showcase, a Malaysia Services Forum is being held on March 18, covering four major topics of interest to the Middle East region — construction, engineering, healthcare, and oil and gas.