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July 2021

Be aware of rising cybercrime

 Freepik.com

Be aware of rising cybercrime

Sheena Wong and Ivan Yeh 

Alongside the environmental, social and governance (ESG) narrative, we see an acceleration in business digitalisation across the world. While enabling more possibilities through cloud-based solutions, cybersecurity has fast become a testing tech issue as attacks threaten to bring social chaos and disruption to computers and servers.  

Cyber-attacks are a significant risk for businesses because they can adversely impact a company’s entire stakeholder community. McAfee estimated that such attacks cost the global economy over USD 400 billion annually, giving cybersecurity a prominent place on today’s business agendas. 

Stolen identity and credentials

Identity theft and stolen credentials (usernames and passwords) are areas of attack. Company assets are at risk and employees in jeopardy as hackers attempt to gain access and wreak havoc through a user’s personal computer. 

You can encounter spyware and other forms of malicious code (malware) in many ways, such as downloading files and software, opening email attachments, clicking on pop-ups, or visiting devious websites. The prevalence of malware in pirated software and movies will also lead to the theft of credentials.  

Once connected to the Internet, spyware quietly runs in the background and transmits your personal information to cybercriminals. Such data can include your internet browsing habits and keystrokes, bank account numbers, usernames and passwords. The hacker can then hack into your bank account to steal your money, or sell your information for illicit or illegal purposes. 

The consequences of identity theft can go beyond damaging the victim’s creditworthiness. The crimes committed by the identity thief can become part of the victim’s court and criminal record, resulting in the victim being wrongly arrested or denied employment upon a routine background check. 

What can you do?

Use different passwords for different accounts or applications. If you use the same password across your accounts, all of your accounts become vulnerable once it has been cracked. Just as you use different keys to protect different places, use different passwords to protect important accounts.  

You might not realise it, but you regularly use two-factor authentication. When you swipe your debit card and are asked to enter your PIN code – this is a form of two-factor authentication, which requires two ways of proving your identity to enable the transaction. It takes an extra step but protects you against identity theft scams.

Setting up two-factor authentication

Cybersecurity is more than protecting laptops and devices; it protects our networks, company data and privacy. As we spend more time online, we need to keep up with our security measures. 

Categories
July 2021

Creating shared values through community investments

Creating shared values through community investments

Ruby Chan

The positive impact made by the winners of Star Golden Hearts Award (SGHA) and Gamuda Inspiration Award (GIA) is the backbone of Yayasan Gamuda’s continued effort towards scaling-up community investment. Beyond the award recognition, past GIA winners have dedicated their time and effort to improve the lives of communities they serve. Be inspired on how our past winners have progressed. 

Categories
July 2021

Sustained learning with English

Sustained learning with English

Sheena Wong   

The English language is the lingua franca for communication throughout the world. While most of us today are competent in using and understanding English, yet only some of us have mastered grammatical structures to elevate our writing skills. 

When I first joined Gamuda, I was amazed to know that our company has a dedicated English Language Unit (ELU) to support the language development of Gamudians. The ELU is tasked to diagnose our English language ability through the Gamuda English Test (GET) and tailor the training modules of the English Language Programme (ELP) to specific learning needs. The ELP is designed to raise participants’ awareness of language use, grammar errors and their communication intent.  

Gamudians who participate in the ELP are generally motivated by their desire to communicate more effectively for work purposes. During the ELP, the participants learn the fundamentals of grammar and language use in conveying messages more effectively. This makes them realise that sustaining interest in learning English is essential to avoid miscommunications in their daily email, letter and contract writing. 

The ELP has successfully raised more awareness to the participants of their shortcomings in the language, whether English is their first language or not. It has helped to sharpen their communication skills, resulting in improved work quality and productivity. Having benefited from the training modules, they strongly encourage Gamudians to brush up their language skills through the ELP and be open to learning. 

Gamudians on ELP and their learning gains.

Gamudians with managerial roles regard the ability to comprehend and communicate in English with multiple stakeholders as crucial for the workplace. English facilitates the faster acquisition of knowledge and new technology. Based on their observations, the ELP has also improved the employees’ confidence and team communication.

Managers have witnessed improvements in their subordinates who attended the ELP.

Our commitment to creating a culture of sustained learning and development of our people is demonstrated in the key anchors of the Gamuda Green Plan: Pillar 2 (People Development) and Pillar 4 (Enabling Sustainability via Digitalisation). As much as the company can provide the learning platform, sustained learning is ultimately a self-motivated and life-long journey. 

In these interviews, I have come to appreciate that although the interviewees have busy work schedules, they have taken the time to continually reflect on their language gaps and make time for development. While the Covid-19 pandemic has inevitably disrupted classroom training, it should not stop our pursuit of learning and development.  

The ELU provides more flexibility in learning English through virtual classes and the eRELL (e-Resources for English Language Learning), an online platform with language learning tips and exercises and a reading library. 

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July 2021

Taking steps towards renewable energy

Freepik.com

Taking steps towards renewable energy

Yuevern Loh  

As the Group takes big strides towards achieving goals set in the Gamuda Green Plan, the team at Gamuda Land Vietnam took a step closer in realising initiative by introducing the first solar energy operated sports complex in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).  

The Celadon Sports and Resort Club (CSRC) in Celadon City officially kicked off the solar power system operations in March this year. This is part of their efforts to fulfill the pledge of conducting businesses sustainably by tackling climate change and establishing limits to carbon emissions. It also lives up to Gamuda Land’s brand value of “Respecting Nature and the Environment”. 

Getting a surge in electricity

With abundant sunlight in Vietnam, especially the southern region, paired with major technological breakthroughs in recent years, solar energy is becoming more and more viable as its cost-effectiveness increases. And to top it off, the Vietnamese government introduced a feed-in-tariff for solar energy to encourage energy transition in 2017, thus enabling the realisation of this socially responsible project. 

There are 1,677 photo-voltaic (PV) panels covering 4,800 m² of the roof at CSRC. The entire system was installed by Indefol, a solar developer using world-leading energy technologies. Indefol also invests in the technology, equipment and maintenance of the system at Celadon City. 

The system’s average electricity output is 2,800 kWh per day, equivalent to 84,000 kWh per month during peak summer months. Every kW powered by this low carbon energy is 15% cheaper than the city electricity tariff. 

Aside from the tangible benefit of saving operational costs, this action is seen as the pilot step towards greening the power system. The team is inspired by Bill Gates’ latest book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster” to tackle climate change with low-carbon electricity, which is the key to decarbonise other economic activities. 

The collaboration with Indefol and other solar power generation experts also provides an opportunity for the team to learn from and gain knowledge on the operation of solar power systems. This invaluable technical know-how will be a foundation to deploy future renewable energy initiatives in other Gamuda Land townships. 

The rooftop of Celadon Sports and Resort Club (CSRC) is covered by PV panels

When the lights go out

But of course, tackling such a big project comes with its set of challenges. We all know solar energy highly depends on the availability of sunlight to gather solar energy effectively. There are already technologies in the market to store the energy in large batteries to cover intermittency, but they come with a large capital cost. 

Currently, only about 40% of the power consumption is off the grid but the team is staying vigilant on new technological breakthroughs that can improve the current system’s efficiency. 

“We firmly believe that there will be significant technological advancements for energy conversion efficiency in the near future. We still have room to put 60% of our power consumption off the fossil-fueled electricity grid,” says Jane Luu, Commercial Real Estate Manager of Gamuda Land HCMC. 

Another challenge the team faces is the system needing a relatively large installation area to provide electricity consistently. This is mainly because most of the PV panels can convert only a quarter of the direct sunlight into solar energy. Therefore, the technological bottleneck hinders the team from installing solar power in a bigger scale for all the apartments in the township. 

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel

The team at Gamuda Land Vietnam is proud to have a few more initiatives in the pipeline to green their power system further. Aside from adopting the solar system for future projects, they are also working on installing Electrical Vehicle (EV) charging stations within the township and renewable energy installation for the sewerage treatment plants and other public facilities within the township. 

“We are happy that the system is under operation, and it marks the first step of our journey in applying sustainable energy solution for our township, Celadon City. This kicks off our goal towards achieving a 40% reduction in non-renewable energy use by 2030 in line with the Group’s ESG aspiration,” says Angus Liew, General Director of Gamuda Land HCMC. 

Categories
July 2021

Gamuda Laboratory plans ahead post-vaccination

Freepik.com

Gamuda Laboratory plans ahead post-vaccination

Adam Anand Row 

With the National Vaccination Progamme finally ramping up, many Gamuda employees have been stepping up to get vaccinated. Whether directly through MySejahtera appointments or company-organised vaccination drives like the on-going MyMedic@Wilayah Mobile Truck Programme, hundreds of employees are now being inoculated against Covid-19. Since regular PCR testing is still on-going, we caught up with Dr Gayathrie Sadacharamani, MGJV Medical Services Manager to get the latest scoop on the implemented testing methodology to address this change in the testing samples. 

“We are always looking to find and adopt the latest developments in Covid-19 testing and analysis to ensure that we can get ahead of any potential issues or infection vectors, which is why we constantly review and update our protocols after every testing cycle. With many of our employees now having received at least their first dose of either Astra Zeneca or Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines, we have now added the administration of the ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) Antibody test. It is administered as a blood test and can determine the level of antibodies developed in a person post-vaccination. ELISA tests are highly sensitive and specific (accurate), comparing favourably with other methods used for the detection of substances in the body,” she explained. 

“The test results then help us decide whether the employee needs to return to a bi-weekly PCR testing regime, enabling accurate monitoring of an employee’s health concerning Covid-19. The ELISA test also allows us to monitor antibody levels in those who have recovered from Covid-19. This will guide us to determine if further testing or actions are needed to ensure their continued health and detect re-infections. The gathered data effectively determines when we have reached herd immunity within the Group, and enables us to continue to isolate infection vectors from external sources in the community,” she added. 

Dr Gaya assured that private and confidential information will be handled with care. “We will not share employee data as we are looking only to maintain the overall well-being and health of our staff, and analyse the data trends across the sample group.”  

“The outlook for the company’s ability to continue functioning despite the pandemic is decidedly positive for now, especially with the on-going vaccination of our workforce. Combined with regular PCR testing cycles, as well as Covid-19 response and mitigation strategies in place, the company is primed to continue to be at the forefront in adjusting to the new norms brought about by the pandemic,” she affirmed. 

Categories
July 2021

Mass vaccination drives up optimism among project staff

Copyright  © 2021 Gamuda Berhad

Mass vaccination drives up
optimism among project staff

Joyce Shamini 

The MRT project was recently roped in as one of the first few beneficiaries of the MYMedic@Wilayah Vaccine Mobile Truck pilot project undertaken by the Ministry of Federal Territories. The programme is currently ongoing with more essential projects lined up.  

Among the first few recipients was Razminur’aina, a 26-year-old engineer based in MRT Kuala Lumpur East station, who received her first dose of Sinovac vaccine on 8 June 2021. Disappointed that she didn’t make it through the Astra Zeneca opt-in sessions previously, Razminur’aina made a beeline for the opportunity as soon as it was up for registration. Raz works closely with subcontractors and workers on the ground from a day-to-day basis, classifying her as a high-risk individual despite her young age and good health.  

Happy to receive their first round of protection.

“I was also very concerned for my elderly parents whom I live with,” she told us. “With the threat of becoming seriously ill with Covid-19 out of the way, I know that I am there for my parents, regardless of what happens.” Grateful that her colleagues and herself have been inoculated, Raz hopes that there will be more such opportunities ahead for those still waiting. 

As vaccines for the programme could only be released in 1,000-2,000 doses, it will be some time before the entire 17,000 members of the MRT workforce are inoculated. All business units are also independently looking at various channels, such as the SELANGKAH programme driven by the Selangor government and Construction Industry Vaccination Program (CIVac) by Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), for quicker vaccine dissemination to our workforce.  

Vaccinated or not, we must continue to follow all the SOPs and stay vigilant. Let’s do our part by staying safe and well-informed on the latest Group Covid-19 related updates on Workplace. 

Gamuda Clinic – Our own healthcare facility

Gamuda will soon unveil two clinics to serve Gamuda workforce and the public at two locations – Jalan Tiga Off Jalan Chan Sow Lin, Sungai Besi and Menara Gamuda. The establishment of Gamuda Clinic is currently in progress for opening in the next few weeks. It will provide a full range of quality healthcare services, such as vaccination, health assessment, medical treatment, disease screening, rehabilitation, emergency and preventive care.  

This is another initiative towards ensuring Gamuda community’s health and well-being while also providing care and services to the communities outside the company. Look out for the opening announcement on Workplace! 

Categories
July 2021

First and longest pedestrian crossing in Malaysia

Copyright  © 2021 Gamuda Berhad

First and longest pedestrian crossing in Malaysia

Joyce Shamini 

When it comes to construction endeavours of complete novelty, Gamuda does not shy away. On 19 May 2021, project members of the MRT Putrajaya line celebrated the final touchdown of the last box jacking works in the construction of an underpass from MRT Hospital Kuala Lumpur station to the hospital’s new ICU and Operation Ward. 

As the country’s largest hospital complex, visitors are often beleaguered by the congested roads and parking woes in that area. The MRT station would serve as an alternative relief for commuters trying to get to the hospital. However, the MRT stop and the hospital are separated by the busiest thoroughfare of Kuala Lumpur, which is the 8-lane Jalan Tun Razak. An overhead pedestrian bridge is out of question as the piers of DUKE highway already encumber the area. The only option – logistical constraints, design specifications and all things considered, was to go fully underground.  

A conventional open trench excavation or New Austrian tunnelling method (NATM) is not feasible given the massive inconvenience that road diversions or utility relocations would bring. After months of feasibility studies and engagement with stakeholders, the ultimate solution was to apply the front box jacking method, a technique never before attempted in Malaysia in favour of cheaper methods. At 82 metres long, it would also be the longest underground pedestrian walkway built so far in Malaysia. It will take about 8 minutes to walk from MRT Hospital Kuala Lumpur station to the hospital. 

Front box jacking works by first installing a supporting frame, a horizontal pipe roofing scheme, that will guide the in-situ cast box segments before being pushed via hydraulic jacks along the span of the alignment. Construction took two years, and the last segment was built within schedule, despite many unforeseen challenges. Site engineer, Melvin Ho Jian Qin told us, “Apart from having to navigate work around the pandemic, the overall experience was extremely positive. We discovered that the soil profile of the alignment – sandy, alluvium type Kenny Hill ground – was highly suited to the box jacking method.”  

The subcontractors themselves, who had worked in numerous similar projects around the world, iterated that the advance rate of the pipe and box jacking exceeded their expectations. A total of 31 pipes were installed. A single pipe could be jacked end to end within four days, while the jacking of each segment took an average of ten days, half the time from initial estimations. 

A total of five segments measuring 10.5 metres (width) by 8.15 metres (height) were constructed to complete the underpass.

An aerial view of the box jacking retrieval shaft seen along Jalan Tun Razak.

The biggest hurdle was overcoming the construction material supply disruption and implementation of the “new norm” SOPs when the first Movement Control Order happened. The construction team had to source for alternative supplies, escalating approval from authorities and vigorously auditing worker’s quarters for safety and compliance – even arranging for their relocation when necessary. Their fast and proactive actions enabled the construction work to catch up despite the initial delays, and the last of the segment was built just in the nick of time, a tremendous feat and one of national significance! 

As Construction Manager, Chew Say Hong put it,It has been rewarding to see the job done, from the very beginning when we were exploring hundred-and-one ways to do it, to finally seeing our vision and hard work pay off.” Project Director Dato’ Wong Wai Ching, also present on site to congratulate the team, added,This success was not only possible with excellent planning and execution, but also thanks to their commitment in enforcing all Covid-19 related safeguards to keep everyone safe.” Kudos to all involved, and here’s to more record-breaking milestones in the times ahead. 

Categories
July 2021

July 2021 – Gamuda Rise Newsletter

Copyright  © 2021 Gamuda Berhad

Despite all odds, MRT Putrajaya Line project reaches major milestone

Adam Anand Row  

For over a year now, the world has been rocked by the Covid-19 pandemic, causing delays and shortages, and interrupting daily and economic life. We face a range of restrictions and new precautions that are essential for our safety, but challenging nonetheless. Despite these obstacles and hurdles, the MRT Putrajaya Line has remained on course, fuelled by the effort of our dedicated teams of engineers and workers who have been toiling away despite lockdowns and social distancing restrictions. Resilience and strength have been their strongest allies. The management team, led by Project Director Dato’ Ir Wong Wai Ching, deftly manoeuvred the pandemic situation with mitigation strategies to ensure work can continue uninterrupted. 

“The race to finish Phase 1 of the MRT Putrajaya Line is foremost in all of our minds. However, with workforce optimisation implemented across the Group, MMC-Gamuda was affected too. Thus, we have since modified approaches and adopted creative means of dealing with this constraint technically, operationally, contractually and programmatically. Ultimately, our objective was to attain the highest level of efficiency with cost-effective work approaches,” shared Dato’ Wong. 

The most definitive proof of the project’s progress is the impending launch of Phase 1 of the project involving the alignment between MRT Damansara Damai Station and MRT Kampung Batu Station. Fault Free Running (FFR) has been completed on a number of trains, and the final round of system migration works is scheduled to be carried by mid-July 2021. Once these works are completed, the Kwasa Damansara, Kampung Selamat and Sungai Buloh stations will have fully transitioned into becoming MRT Putrajaya Line stations ahead of the Phase 1 launch.

The eagle-eyed among you may have already noticed the new MRT Putrajaya Line Electric Trains (ETs) running along the stretch of tracks between MRT Kepong Baru and MRT Kg. Batu Station. These ETs are undergoing the final phase of operational testing ahead of the August 2021 launch date, during which Rapid Rail train operators familiarise themselves with the new train systems and how it operates integrating with the MRT Kajang Line. Station Staff also are undergoing hands-on training at the new MRT stations.

As excitement mounts for the Phase 1 launch, work is still underway on the remainder of the alignment, including the underground sections. For the rest of the year, these works will mainly involve installation and fitting out, including the architectural finishes in the stations, simultaneously introducing the M&E and Railway Systems works. While the journey is not over, we have reached a major milestone. Even more impressively, we have delivered on time and on schedule. Great work, Team! 

First and longest pedestrian crossing
in Malaysia

When it comes to construction endeavours of complete novelty, Gamuda does not shy away.

Mass vaccination drives up optimism among project staff 

The MRT project was recently roped in as one of the first few beneficiaries of the MYMedic@Wilayah Vaccine Mobile Truck pilot project undertaken by the Federal Territories Ministry.

Gamuda Laboratory plans
ahead post-vaccination

With the National Vaccination Progamme finally ramping up, many Gamuda employees have been stepping up to get vaccinated.

Taking steps towards renewable energy 

As the Group takes big strides towards achieving goals set in the Gamuda Green Plan, the team at Gamuda Land Vietnam took a step closer in realising initiative by introducing the first solar energy operated sports complex in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) 

Sustained learning
with English 

The English language is the lingua franca for communication throughout the world. While most of us today are competent in using and understanding English, yet only some of us have mastered grammatical structures to elevate our writing skills. 

Creating shared values through community investments 

The positive impact made by the winners of Star Golden Hearts Award (SGHA) and Gamuda Inspiration Award (GIA) is the backbone of Yayasan Gamuda’s continued effort towards scaling-up community investment.

Be aware of rising cybercrime

Alongside the environmental, social and governance (ESG) narrative, we see an acceleration in business digitalisation across the world.