Dr. Sok Siphana Presents at Britcham

• 31 December 2015
• Local News
• 926 Views

Members of the British Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia (BritCham) and the wider business community were last week given an exclusive opportunity to hear from Dr. Sok Siphana on the work he has undertaken in codifying Cambodia’s first Building Construction Law.

Construction has and continues to be one of the key pillars supporting Cambodia’s economy, having experienced a rapid growth in recent years. According to recent figures from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, 559 construction companies, including 165 foreign developers, are currently doing business in Cambodia. Last year, the country received a total investment of nearly 2.8 billion U.S. dollars in construction. In the first five months of this year, the country attracted an additional 1.54 billion U.S. dollars in the sector, a 210 percent rise over the same period last year.

The figures are impressive and point to the increasing importance of the need to ensure a proper regulatory and legal framework within the construction sector. As stressed by Dr. Sok Siphana during his presentation, having a robust framework of standards and compliance will create favourable conditions for investors.

For the UK and British companies operating in Cambodia, the codification of a Building Construction Law comes as a welcome step. There are after all a number of British companies at the forefront of the sector – for example, Knight Frank, CBRE and Hongkong Land. The UK’s distinction as leaders in architectural design is also prominent in Cambodia. British architectural firms are designing some of the city’s most cutting edge buildings, including the Vattanac Tower and the Sleuk Rith Institute, scheduled to commence construction in 2015. Worth noting as well is the contribution of British expertise in the area of building standards. A recent report presented by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to the Cambodian Government has provided an important foundation to Dr. Sok Siphana’s work on the Construction Law, especially in the area of health and safety standards.

Beyond the potential for investment, Dr. Sok Siphana iterated the vital role the private sector will need to play in ensuring compliance with the Law. Reform within the sector should strategically focus on increasing industry compliance through modern, efficient oversight and governance mechanisms. He also spoke of the cooperative exchange of ideas and best practice with the private sector. A public consultation will be held in the coming year for stakeholders to provide input on the Law.

Dr. Sok Siphana also outlined some of the key challenges of drafting a Law in the context of a developing nation. These included defining and translating accurately technical concepts and norms, as well as defining the role of the different actors involved. Additionally, working in a framework where no uniform building code exists or is out of date.

Whilst challenges exist, the potential and sophistication of this new legal framework brings great promise to the sector and the country at large. Dr. Sok Siphana’s extensive international experience and involvement in drafting Cambodia’s legislation in a number of different areas should help provide the country with a modern and well-functioning building-control regulatory system.

For more information on the British Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, including future events, please visit the website http://www.britchamcambodia.org.