CIDB finds 77.6% of inspected construction sites are Dengue risk

KUALA LUMPUR: The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) found more than three-quarters of the 304 construction sites in the country inspected between March and August this year to be breeding grounds of the dengue-bearing Aedes mosquito or at risk of being so.
Works Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof said today 236 of the sites or 77.6% were found to be in that state during the inspection conducted in collaboration with the Health Department.
Eighty-six construction sites were ordered to clean up by the Health Department and the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, he told a press conference after a visit to the site proposed for the upgrading of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) here.
Fadillah also said that an inspection of dengue hotspots in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur during the same period found 165 of 213 construction or 77.5% to be associated with the breeding of the Aedes mosquito.
He said the ministry set up an action committee on May 8 to inspect construction sites for their health and safety aspects.
On the visit to the proposed HKL project site, he said the Kuala Lumpur Health Department had advised the contractor to clean up the area which was found to be at risk of being an Aedes breeding ground.
"The contractor was issued a seven-day stop-work order to ensure a clean-up during that period," he said.
Fadillah said the Immigration Department had informed that all the workers at the construction site had permits. – Bernama