Late Payment Issues Due to Covid-19 Pandemic in Malaysia Construction Industry

Delay or late payment in construction project is a common phenomenon and has become a habit in the construction industry. However, in the year of 2020, the pandemic of Coronavirus (COVID-19) has dramatically spread over the world and the issue of late payment becomes worse and critical. Many parties involved in the project affected especially the contractor. In line with the issue, the aim of this research is to identify the strategies to overcome the late payment issues due to the pandemic COVID-19 in the construction industry. The objectives of this research are to identify the factor that can lead to the late payment during the pandemic COVID-19, to determine the implication of late payment to the contractor due to COVID-19 pandemic and to suggest the potential strategies to overcome the late payment issue due to COVID-19 pandemic. Questionnaires were used to collect the data and was distributed via google form and door to door visit which focus on G6 Contractor in Petaling district. A total of 127 questionnaires were returned. The data obtained was analysed by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. The result shows that the suspension of work during Movement Control Order (MCO) is the factor influence late payment during pandemic, delay in project completion is the major implication of late payment due to pandemic and the proper planning and budgeting of project by client is the most recommended strategy to overcome late payment due to COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the finding of this research hope to help provide insight to contractor regarding the factor influencing late payment, implication of late payment during pandemic COVID-19 and at the same time to overcome the late payment issue due to COVID-19 pandemic.