Construction boom elevating lift demand

THE Kingdom’s booming construction sector, particularly in Phnom Penh’s highrise and condo developments, is raising demand for lifts, suppliers have said.

Data from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction shows that during the first nine months of this year, the government approved construction projects worth $6.49 billion, a 34 per cent year-on-year increase.

Of those, 329 buildings were five storeys or more.

Taing Kork, a lift installation contractor who has been in business for one year, said on Thursday that his company has mostly installed units in the capital’s condo projects.

“We have installed at least two units per month and I think that demand will continue to increase,” he said.

A sales representative from K&K Life, a lift supplier in Phnom Penh, who asked not to be named, told The Post on Thursday that demand has seen a sharp increase in recent years due to progress in the construction sector.

He noted that skilled labour is urgently needed to meet the construction boom.

“The most important thing is that companies [in the industry] take the utmost responsibility in dealing with human lives.

“Therefore our lifts and those who install them must be up to quality standards – we must provide a good service so that everything runs smoothly,” he said, adding that his company mostly imports lifts from Greece.

Po Sok Kea, director of lift importing and servicing firm Fuji Elevator (Cambodia) Co Ltd, told The Post on Thursday that “we are currently seeing more construction of high buildings, which need to be fitted with lifts”.

However, his company’s business has slowed on last year as many high-rise projects have been put on hold, Sok Kea said.

He said his firm only sold some 100 units in the first nine months of this year, a 20 per cent decrease on the same period last year.