Relief under this Part
79C.—(1)  A party to a construction contract who undertakes to carry out any construction works under that contract (called in this Part A) may apply, in accordance with section 79F, to the Part 10A Registrar to appoint a Part 10A assessor to adjust the contract sum for the purpose in subsection (2).
(2)  The purpose of the adjustment is to take into account an increase in the amount of foreign manpower salary costs incurred by A at any time between 1 October 2020 and 30 September 2021 or such later date as may be prescribed by regulations made under section 79K (both dates inclusive), over what A would otherwise have incurred, because of a COVID-19 event.
(3)  Subsection (1) only applies if A had made a reasonable attempt to negotiate with the other party to the construction contract (called in this Part B) for such adjustment.
(4)  A reference in this Part to an increase in the amount of foreign manpower salary costs incurred by A in a period, over an amount which A would otherwise have incurred, because of a COVID-19 event, includes an increase in an amount paid by A to another person (called in this section A1) in that period under any contract or other arrangement between A and A1 in relation to the carrying out of the construction works, being payment for any foreign manpower salary costs incurred or paid for in that period (whether by A1 or another person) in relation to the carrying out of those works, over an amount which would otherwise have been payable by A to A1, because of the COVID-19 event.
Illustration
        The contract sum for a construction contract between A and B includes the following components (whether set out expressly in the contract or otherwise):
(a)an amount of foreign manpower salary costs to be incurred by A for work permit holders employed by A to carry out the construction works;
(b)cost for a part of the construction works to be carried out by a contractor engaged by A (A1) under a construction contract between A and A1, which includes (whether set out expressly in the contract or otherwise) —
(i)an amount of foreign manpower salary costs to be incurred by A1 for work permit holders employed by A1 to carry out that part of the works; and
(ii)an amount of foreign manpower salary costs to be incurred by a contractor engaged by A1 (A2) and payable by A1 to A2 under a contract between A1 and A2 for construction works to be carried out by work permit holders employed by A2.
      Each of these amounts of foreign manpower salary costs may be included for determining the amount of foreign manpower salary costs incurred or which would otherwise have been incurred by A.
[Act 14 of 2021 wef 06/08/2021]