"Building committee concerned over construction safety in Preah Sihanouk", 30 December 2019

The Committee for the Inspection of the Quality of Buildings is concerned about construction safety in Preah Sihanouk province as it ordered 23 buildings to be demolished, 166 to be rehabilitated and found 381 construction projects lacked the necessary documents.

In a recent report, the committee said the orders came after it inspected 570 buildings in the province following June’s deadly collapse which killed 28 workers in Sihanoukville.

It noted that it remains concerned over the poor quality of buildings in the province.

The report noted that the committee faces many challenges and said most of the construction in the province failed to meet technical standards and used poor quality construction materials.

“Most of the building owners are Chinese investors who do not understand the procedure of requesting for permission,” it said...

“Some construction companies and contractors also failed to provide safety equipment to staff or workers and...”

... He said since 2017, with the influx of Chinese tourists and investments to Sihanoukville, the government has approved 1,076 construction projects, involving capital investment of $5 billion.

... Sok Kin, president of the Building and Wood Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia, yesterday said he is still concerned over the safety of buildings in the Kingdom, especially in Sihanoukville.

“The safety at construction sites is still the main problem and the workers remain at risk,” he noted.

Mr Kin said the government should strictly vet requests made by construction owners before issuing licences to them to avoid future disasters...