LEVY ON FOREIGN CONSTRUCTION WORKERS (Particulars)

Mr S. Chandra Das asked the Minister for Communications and Minister for Labour (a) how much money has been collected so far by way of the $230 monthly levy imposed on each foreign construction worker from non-traditional sources; (b) what proportion of the money has been disbursed to assist employers in the construction and building industry; and (c) whether it is opportune to withdraw this levy for the moment in view of the severe labour shortage and spiralling construction costs.

Dr Wong Kwei Cheong: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, as at 30th April, 1981, the amount collected through the $230 per month levy on construction workers from non-traditional sources was $475,242.

The Ministry of National Development is working out several schemes to provide financial assistance to assist contractors in their mechanization efforts. Details of these schemes will be announced and disbursements made soon.

The House was told at the Parliament sitting on 20th March 1981 (Hansard, Vol. 40, No. 11) of the rationale for the levy. The levy imposed on employers of construction workers from non-traditional sources is intended in a way to raise the wage cost of employing such workers so as to discourage employers from an over-reliance of foreign workers. It is also to exert pressure on such employers to resort to more labour-efficient and mechanized methods of construction. If we made foreign workers available cheaply to the employers in the construction industry, then there would be no incentive to these employers to employ local workers and train them to attain a higher skill and to go into mechanized methods of construction. The rationale still holds, and it is therefore not opportune to withdraw the levy.