“A manager of an insurance company who asked not to be named said that so far, in Cambodia there is no law requiring to contract building durability insurance for high rise buildings. That is why construction quality is still a challenging issue, and clients have just to trust.
“He added, ‘So far, Cambodian law requires only to have third party liability insurance during the period of the construction, but there is still a gap to achieve insurance for building durability.’
“He went on to say that in other countries, almost all construction activity includes to contract durability insurance for buildings. Therefore, the quality of construction in those countries is guaranteed, and the durability of buildings can be predicted, while in Cambodia, there is no such thing.
“The director of the Caminco Insurance company, Mr. Duong Vibol, said on 15 October 2009 that also his insurance company offers insurance services related to the construction of buildings, but the agents of the company have not been able to attract clients constructing big and high rise buildings.
“He said, ‘I do not know what the requirements of the laws are, but we have assigned agents to talk to them, but so far, there is no response - or they said that they had already bought insurance from abroad.’
“Also the director of the Forte Insurance company, Mr. Yak Chamroenrith, said on the same day that most high rise buildings being constructed along the Monivong Boulevard belong to clients of his company, but they contracted only third party liability insurance, but there is no insurance yet for the durability of the buildings. He said, ‘In modern countries, there is such a service, but in Cambodia, there is none.’
“According to Mr. Chamroenrith, the third party liability insurance is a service that guarantees payments only for accidents that might happen during the construction, but it does not guarantee the quality or the durability of buildings.’
“He continued to say that for the insurance of building durability, many studies have to be made and conditions have to be fulfilled.
“While local insurance companies claimed that high rise buildings being constructed do not have insurance for the durability of the building, they said that those big constructions companies might have insurance service contracts with companies abroad.
“Mr. Chamroenrith added that in general, the construction of such high rise building is not conducted without proper thinking about the quality. Most conditions have to be met to have insurance, even during the stage of the construction. But what he is concerned about is the quality of buildings constructed by private developers.
“Though those high rise buildings may already have insurance, the above mentioned anonymous person suggested that the construction companies should pay for insurance from local companies.
“He added, ‘The construction is conducted in Cambodia, while the insurance is bought from foreign countries. This can be risky.’
“He went on to say that to promote the local insurance sector, all construction companies should contract such services from local insurance companies.” Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #5023, 17.10.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Saturday, 17 October 2009
Deum Ampil, Vol.3, #313, 17.10.2009
Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.8, #2074, 17.10.2009
Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.3, #511, 17.10.2009
Note:
A description of related considerations can be found in the following article published on 30 January 2006 by the Journal of Information, Law and Technology:
Access to Legal Information in Cambodia: Initial Steps, Future Possibilities
Though Article 13 of the Law on the Organization and Functioning of the Council of Ministers (1994) provides that “all norms and standards with general effect must be published in the Official Gazette," the publication of Cambodian laws is intermittent, incomplete and poorly distributed. This problem is compounded by the fact that the 1993 Constitution expressly saves laws which were made under previous regimes, arguably including laws from the pre-Khmer Rouge period. For these reasons there is no definitive collection of Cambodian laws currently in force...
Next Steps
On the basis of the Cambodian specific experience ... there is an argument that the publication and distribution of law in electronic form is an appropriate tool to address the question of access to information in a legal system which has operated without adequate access to even the most basic legal information.
Though there are issues to consider with regard to the development of a legal information system which will work in the Cambodian context, the country would appear to be at a juncture whereby there is sufficient political will to commence a dialogue with government, academia and civil society with a view to developing a model for the sustainable provision of legal information via the internet. Ideally, any movements in this direction would be accompanied by a regulation requiring all institutions of state to provide certain identified classes of documents for free electronic distribution...
Thus in Cambodia, as elsewhere in the world, we should anticipate that the development of the rule of law will be dependent not only on information sharing, but on the establishment of networks of people who are determined to use that information to promote a legal system which is independent, predicable and just.
End Note:
Koh Santepheap, Vol.42, #6781, 17-18.10.2009
Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #5023, 17.10.2009
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