A Man Immersed In Legal and Building Backgrounds

• 31 December 2015
• Association Focus
• 3595 Views

With an extensive educational and professional background in law and construction, the man that acts as the representative of the Secretary General of the Cambodia Constructors Association wishes to see more competent lawyers to professionally serve the nation’s thriving construction industry.

Since 2001, Dr. Tan Monivann has been Vice-President of the Mong Reththy Group (MRG), the largest agro-industrial firm in Cambodia and in the top five in Southeast Asia. He also represents Neak Oknha Mong Reththy, MRG’s President and Founder who has also been appointed as Secretary General to the Cambodia Constructors Association (CCA) that represents constructors in Cambodia.

Born in Kompong Cham province in 1973 to a noble family of four siblings, Monivann married in 2000 and has two children. He earned diverse academic degrees both from Cambodia and overseas in the fields of law, development, business, economics, and public administration.

Having been immersed in the building sector since 2001, he has led MRG’s construction division, Samnang Khmeng Wat Co .Ltd, the nation’s leading construction firm operating since 1989. Having attended biddings for public construction projects, Dr. Monivann sees the sector now suffering due to the inability of contractors and owners to draft effective contracts for construction projects.

“Most of the contracts between owners/contractors in Cambodia are written with many loopholes that usually cause conflicts among parties,” he said. “Most lawyers aren’t specialized in construction knowledge, so the contracts they draft contain many loopholes, especially on the payment scheme and construction term.”

According to Dr. Monivann, only about 400 registered lawyers are active in Cambodia now, and very few of them have specialized in construction.

To ease the situation, he recommends; parties to learn construction-related laws clearly; contractors should register with the Cambodia Constructors Association to get protection and recognition; developers should register with the Ministry of Economy and Finance to get recognition; projects should follow technical standards; and parties should approach registered legal professionals that have construction knowledge.

Besides being concerned at seeing so many foreigners dominate high-level positions in Cambodia’s construction sector, other challenges he acknowledges are; heavy reliance on foreign investment; local developers not having long-term property development planning, no standard land prices, local property prices being heavily reliant on imported construction materials whose prices often fluctuate, and political instability.

He also sees the need to improve the digital economy, asserting that, “In other cities, people can sell/buy property online, but this system is far from being reached in Cambodia. With our current property transaction system, we can’t trade properties on the world market.”

Because construction is a backbone for Cambodia where the land is still abundant, he recommends Cambodian property traders to focus on land trading, and developing properties for sale or for rent. “Because Cambodia is a land-intensive country, if more construction material producers can operate inside the country, Cambodia will be able to develop property at a cheaper cost than other nations,” he said.

Looking toward the ASEAN Community, he identifies losing domestic employment to foreign nationals and the greater inflow of exotic goods as challenges. However, he believes that the merging will force Cambodia to work harder to keep up with other nations.

Because construction and law are his main skills, Dr. Monivann’s achievements stretch across the two industries. In the building sector, he has led the company on dozens of projects nationwide for the government, developer partners, and the private sector. In the legal sector, via his own position, and as the CCA Secretary General, he has been heavily involved in the drafting of various legal instruments to serve and shape today’s prosperous construction and property sectors to ensure their healthy future.

Just like people the world over, Dr. Monivann has dreams he wishes to achieve in his lifetime. On the subject of legal development, he wishes to assist the government in reforming and improving the legal sector to gain back foreign investors’ confidence. For the construction sector, he wishes to develop various property projects like condominiums so his name will be remembered for them.

As a prominent Cambodian motivator, Dr. Monivann recommends the younger Cambodian generations to set a concrete life plan, improve their skills and knowledge, and capitalize on the opportunities they have.

For company employees, he advises them to build capacity gradually over time to reach their desired positions. “If you are reluctant with your self-improvement, and accept whatever you have, you can’t prosper,” he said.

For ambitious people like himself, he urges them to build themselves a fantastic future by setting up a life mission and vision that clearly reflect their current position, their future direction and the way to reach that direction by capitalizing all available resources and opportunities.