The construction of a new National Assembly building will begin early in April, despite the protests of some lawmakers, an Assembly official said Thursday.
The company responsible for the construction has conducted several site tests and has determined the land suitable for building, said Cheam Yeap, chairman of the Assembly’s Construction Commission. Construction is scheduled to be completed in four years, he said.
Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay has sent a letter to Assembly First Deputy President Heng Samrin, asking him to halt the construction by Ly Chhuong Construction, Import and Export Co. “Please…make an immediate scrutiny in order to protect the National Assembly’s reputation,” Son Chhay wrote.
The cost of the construction, $26 million, is too high and the contracting process lacks transparency, Son Chhay wrote. The building contract should have been awarded to another company—the Giang Shi Trading and Construction Co, Ltd—but instead went to Ly Chhuong, Son Chhay said Thursday.
“The Construction Commission has to invalidate Ly Chhuong Company because we have documentation to prove that allowing Ly Chhuong to construct is related to corruption,” Son Chhay said.
Ly Chhuong representatives could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Giang Shi Director Kim Khieng on Thursday called the National Assembly’s decision “unjust.”
“We want the commission to solve the problem first, before allowing Ly Chhuong to construct the new…building,” he said. “We can’t accept it.”
The company had already brought a lawsuit against the Construction Commission, he said.
Cheam Yeap dismissed Son Chhay’s allegations as a bitter attack from the Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian, who was ousted as a member of the Construction Commission in 2001.
“Son Chhay doesn’t know anything,” Cheam Yeap said. “He was angry with us. That is why he speaks like this.”
“The National Assembly can be blamed for carelessness in national achievements.”
