YB Zuraida Kamaruddin, Minister of Housing and Local Government, accompanied by Tan Sri Lim Hock San JP, Managing Director of LBS Bina Group (LBS) Berhad, visited SANY Group (SANY) China and their factory in Changsha recently.

During the visit, the minister expressed her admiration towards the size and scale of SANY as well as their advanced technology and commented that this is the basic requirement for Malaysia to achieving developed country status. Therefore, she hoped that SANY would be able to transfer their technology to local Malaysian companies such as LBS as well as train local Industrialised Building System (IBS) technical personnel.

Furthermore, the minister mentioned the housing ministry's plan of building 1 million affordable housing units in 10 years. This is equivalent to 100 thousand units in a year, and it would require the support of advanced technology.

Tan Sri Lim Hock San said, following the Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's visit to China who received a warm reception from President Xi Jinping, and the signing of several agreements at the same time, it is evident that the relationship between China and Malaysia is striding towards a new milestone. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, also stated his full support for the One Belt, One Road initiative, hence demonstrating the initiative will definitely benefit the economic development of both countries. With the technological advancement of China, the transfer of technology from China will assist various sectors in Malaysia in advancing towards modernisation and informatisation.

As the mission and idea of LBS have always been about presenting the high quality products to customers, therefore in cooperating with SANY, they hope to utilise the best technology to develop LBS's projects for their customers to own a safe and comfortable home. Tan Sri Lim Hock San also said that he was extremely satisfied with the cooperation between both parties and hoped that this relationship can progress further in the future.

The President of SANY, Mr. Tang Xiuguo said, SANY has the utmost confidence in Malaysia and is of the opinion that investing in Malaysia is a wise move. With Malaysia's stable political environment and the close relationship between China and Malaysia, they hope to cooperate with local companies for the mutual development of both parties.

He also said that the mission of SANY is to empower the construction industry, and that the future development trends of this industry is intelligent manufacturing, therefore, the IBS is a major trend in the development of this industry. As for the plan to build 1 million units of affordable housing within 10 years as mentioned by the Malaysian Minister of Housing and Local Government, Mr. Tang Xiuguo gave the assurance that SANY will provide the relevant IBS training and technology transfer to help achieve the goal of 1 million affordable housing units.

In 2017, a joint venture was established between LBS and SANY. Today, the IBS factory of both companies can produce up to 4,000 units of properties annually. The possibility of the continued construction of IBS factories and provision of IBS components to other affordable housing projects in Malaysia will not be excluded.