KUCHING: Malaysia’s sustainable construction push is being slowed by financing that still treats digital and green upgrades separately.
Universiti Malaya Senior Lecturer and Construction Data Specialist, Dr Zafira Nadia Maaz, and Universiti Malaya Senior Lecturer and Urban Economic Development Specialist, Dr Nor Amaleena Mazlan, said the sector was still too often forced to treat digitalisation and sustainability as separate upgrades instead of as one integrated shift in how projects are delivered.
“Malaysia did not mainly face an ambition gap in construction, but a financing mechanism gap, even though public policy had already signalled that digital transformation and sustainability both matter,” they said.
According to them, the problem was not only whether support existed, but whether financing mechanisms reflected how construction stakeholders actually invest, operate and deliver projects.
They added that the financing gap was also spatial, with investment stopping at lot boundaries even as economic returns and risks flowed across entire districts.
They argued that construction firms do not digitalise first and become sustainable later, but increasingly do both together.
“Investments in BIM, cloud coordination, site analytics, lifecycle costing and carbon reporting form one integrated capability that improves coordination, reduces rework, strengthens traceability, supports material management and makes sustainability performance easier to demonstrate.
“Fragmented incentives were therefore becoming less effective because they might support isolated upgrades, but did not fully support the integrated systems now needed for sustainable construction.”
They said Malaysia’s financing challenge was not simply about how much support existed, but whether that support was designed around project reality.
They also said sustainable construction now depended increasingly on the ability to measure, verify, coordinate and report performance credibly.
“Digital capability had therefore become critical because measurable performance made it easier to justify investment, defend decisions and strengthen financial confidence.
“Sustainable construction becomes more bankable when it becomes more measurable.”
They warned that one of the biggest risks in the transition was that firms might spend on labels, selected green features or isolated pilot tools without investing in the systems needed to verify whether outcomes were real.
“Without that supporting capability, the sector risked funding sustainability claims without funding the evidence needed to support them.
“Seen through that lens, integrated finance was not only an industry productivity issue but also a net-zero credibility issue, as financing had to help firms measure emissions, improve resource efficiency, reduce rework and report progress in a way that could withstand scrutiny.
They stressed that Malaysia did not lack policy intent, pilot technologies or financing mechanisms, but still lacked an integrated financing logic for the sustainable construction future it wanted to build.
“If the country wanted sustainable construction at scale, it had to move beyond fragmented incentives and start financing the systems that make sustainable performance measurable, defensible and commercially meaningful.”
