Soilbuild Construction expects adverse impact from suspension of business

SOILBUILD Construction Group said on Tuesday that the suspension of business activities and extension of construction periods for its projects are expected to have an adverse impact on the group's financial performance. 

"The risks and uncertainties in relation to the pandemic remain, as the countries in which we operate progressively resume economic and business activities," it said in its regulatory filing. 

In Singapore, since the "circuit breaker" took effect, the group has suspended all its construction and precast activities; only certain essential services, such as vector control and safety-related maintenance, were allowed at construction sites and factories.

While the circuit breaker was lifted on June 2, the pace of resumption of construction activities remains slow due to the stringent testing and regulatory clearances imposed on the built environment sector, said Soilbuild.   The group was on Tuesday granted approval by the relevant authorities to resume its activities at certain construction sites in Singapore. Soilbuild said that it will continue to implement additional safety measures and policies so that it can resume all its activities in the Republic. 

Over in Malaysia, the group was required to suspend all business activities as a result of the Malaysian government's movement control order from March 18 to June 9.

Following the transition into the conditional movement control order from May 4, the group had started on preparatory documentations for implementing and practicing standard operating procedures (SOPs) at its plants. This included testing all employees for Covid-19. 

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 On Tuesday, the group resumed the production of precast building components at respective plants, but it will still take some months to fulfil SOPs and virus testing for all its workers before it can return to pre-Covid-19 levels of production efficiency and capacity. 

In Myanmar, the group resumed all its business activities on May 15, with the necessary permits from the authorities.