Designing a Cambodia Building Code

• 31 December 2015
• Local News
• 6800 Views

By Daniel Parkes, General Manager, Hongkong Land

In 2014, the Royal Government of Cambodia, with the help of the International Business Chamber, engaged a long-lasting British institution, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), to appraise the existing legal and regulatory framework surrounding construction and fire safety standards. The report, which was funded by the British Embassy, was delivered to the Senior Minister H.E. In Chhum Lim in August and it set out clearly where the Kingdom is now in terms of building safety standards and what needs to be done to make properties safer during construction and when they are operating and functioning.

The Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning & Construction (MLMUPC) have already started to address the issues. Secretary of State Dr Pen Sophal is the man behind the initiative. An architect by profession, he understands clearly the need to improve existing laws and practices. Under the guidance of the Senior Minister H.E. In Chhum Lim and H.E. Dr Pen Sophal, the government has enlisted the help of H.E. Dr Sok Siphana who, as well as having his own legal practice, is also the go-to guy when it comes to new legislation. Dr Siphana has been working hard through 2014 to draft a new Law on Construction. The previous Law on Construction was outdated, lacked detail and lacked relevance. The new law is expected to be ready for public consultation in February 2015. It will set out clearly the new systems and processes for construction applications.

Where there is still a lot of work to do is in Building Control. Building Control is a function which is the duty of government to periodically inspect buildings during construction to ensure that the correct methods of construction and materials are being used. It starts right at the beginning when plans are submitted to the government for approval and should finish with a certificate when the building is complete. Currently there are no Building Control professionals (inspectors). Ideally there needs to be a university which runs a degree or diploma in this field that can educate and train a new generation of professionals, but currently this does not exist. The IBC is now working with the government to address this issue however it could be 10 years before a Building Control profession is developed. One piece of advice from RICS is to allow the private sector carry out this function. This would mean developers would be obliged to use government approved private sector companies to carry out inspections.

What the Law on Construction will not specify is exactly what the Building Code will be. It could follow the British, French, Korean, American code. It has not yet been decided. But the feeling amongst the government is that Cambodia should have its own code, relevant to the country and flexible in its application.

In our article in the next addition we will look at Building Code in more detail.

Daniel Parkes is General Manager for Hongkong Land (Premium Investments) Ltd, Chairman of the Real Estate Committee of the International Business Chamber and a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.