As the world keeps moving forward through the Covid-19 pandemic and thoughts turn towards the post-pandemic age, governments and businesses alike have to keep in mind their short and long term goals, and work towards those in the face of this adversity.
Pestech International Bhd, a Malaysian public-listed integrated electrical power technology company, is no different in this regard. Paul Lim, group CEO of Pestech, told FocusM that the company expects there to be a surge in demand for infrastructure, and that the company is preparing itself for this surge.
“The pandemic has affected everyone, but for Pestech in particular, the situation has affected site progress, though this was largely kept to April,” said Lim, noting that the pandemic had different effects in different countries.
He shared that, with the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) that came into effect on May 4, most of the construction sites in Malaysia have resumed work. Regionally, Pestech saw no shutdowns in Cambodia, with everything progressing as normal. In the Philippines, things are set to restart since June 1, while Papua New Guinea has continued operations as normal, though borders were closed.
“This has been a delay in progress for us, but it is a different situation. There is a job to do, but we were not allowed to execute the work,” said Lim, adding that he was thankful that clients have been very reasonable in discussing extensions and idling costs.
On why he believes there will be a surge in demand for infrastructure in the region, Lim shared that it is a positive feeling that the Malaysian government will look at spending on infrastructure, so there will be better chances of bagging more projects.
He noted that the 1000MW large scale solar renewable energy tender that came out recently was limited to local companies to stimulate economic activity, and pointed out that infrastructure projects have a large spillover effect on the local economy.
As it stands, since the announcement of the CMCO, Lim said the headquarters staff have been able to work, and regional offices have been responding well to the situation. Some project clients have even been asking for Pestech to accelerate projects, with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) being one of them.
In the near term, the impact of Covid-19 will be a dampener, but Lim believes recovery will be V-shaped, for the infrastructure sector at least.
“Recovery should be V-shaped, but it really depends on the sector. Infrastructure as a sector should see a speedy recovery, but construction for consumers will be a different scenario altogether,” said Lim.
A perk of the Movement Control Order (MCO) and subsequent CMCO, according to Lim, is that more traditional mindsets have become more open to digital and technological innovation.
“Utilities are generally a very conservative sector, but the MCO has helped them to be more open-minded, especially towards tech,” he said. For now however, Lim holds out hope that the utilities players can be encouraged to move towards remote monitoring and asset management as well as going digital.
At the same time, the trend of working from home may become more entrenched, according to Lim.
“Our offices in Malaysia have been following the standard operating procedures (SOP) and as a majority of our engineers can work from home, we are not so heavily affected,” he said, adding that companies in general had to accept working through teleconferencing, and this could be an acceleration towards flexi-hours, with the caveat that “productivity is controlled, and this can be accepted by everyone.”
“It was a first step into a situation of uncertainty, but now, companies may realise this might not be a bad way to work for some. Of course, there will still be staff that have to come in due to being unable to contribute much on a work from home basis, but this depends on the department,” said Lim.
Pestech has been reducing the number of staff in the office by 50% to 60%, with staff taking turns to come into the office. Lim shared that this will likely continue for the next six months as the world waits for a vaccine against Covid-19.
“Productivity is something that has to be managed, and everyone has to know to do their work. This is a positive for work ethics and work culture, and will help in pushing the world towards that direction,” noted Lim. - June 4, 2020