SEREMBAN: The Negri Sembilan government has banned foreign workers from living in residential areas in the state.
Local Government Development, Housing and Transport Committee chairman J. Arul Kumar said all employers who are currently housing their foreign workers in residential areas will have to move them to commercial zones or centralised living quarters (CLQ) by the end of the year.
He said the state government will carry out a programme at all residential areas to identify residences being used to house foreign workers.
This, he said, was for the Labour Department to issue letters allowing these foreigners to continue living there temporarily, at the most until the end of the year.
"We (the state government) are giving employers until the end of the year to provide CLQs for their foreign workers," he told reporters after visiting the CLQ at Lodge Residence in Nilai.
Arul Kumar, who is Nilai assemblymen, said there were several criteria for CLQs, all of which have been set by local authorities and the Labour Department.
"The CLQ has to be fenced and constantly monitored. They must also be equipped with basic facilities for the foreign workers.
"This will ensure their rights are looked after and that they have a comfortable and safe place in which to live," he said.
