NA passes draft law on State assets
THE National Assembly (NA) on Tuesday ended discussions and approved a draft law on the control, use and management of State assets that it plans to send to the Senate for review.
Its spokesman Leng Peng Long said the law will strengthen good governance in controlling State assets.
Peng Long said the NA had continued the 5th session of the 6th legislature on October 6 to discuss and approve the main draft laws serving the sectors of the economy, trade and international cooperation.
“The NA ended [this] discussion and approved 11 agenda points. We are also preparing the main laws to be sent to the Senate for review, especially [this] draft law on the control, use and management of State assets,” he said.
Peng Long said the law will help manage finances efficiently and sustainably, including public resources, the national budget and national economic growth.
Licadho monitoring manager Am Sam Ath said he supported the law and expects it will work in managing assets.
Licadho, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, supported this law to strengthen legal frameworks, institutional infrastructures and enhance the capacity of relevant institutions in controlling State assets, Sam Ath said.
“In the past, we have observed that control of State assets hasn’t gotten better and there are still many problems. But regarding this law, I expect it might be defined clearly what State assets are and how they are managed, used and controlled,” he said.
He said the law is a pattern or a principle to be implemented. But it is not yet known to what degree this law will be implemented.
A press release from the Office of the Council of Ministers at the July 3 plenary meeting of the Cabinet said the draft law was prepared based on Article 58 of Cambodia’s 1993 Constitution, stipulating that State property comprises land, mineral resources, mountains, sea, underwater, continental shelf, coastline, airspace, islands, rivers, canals, streams, lakes, forests, natural resources, economic and cultural centres, bases for national defence and other facilities determined as State property.
The draft law was prepared to strengthen legal frameworks and institutional infrastructures, and enhance the capacity of institutions in controlling State property such as determining types of State property, managing State property clearly and specifically, preparing inventories of State property, transferring ownership rights, conservation, development, use of State property, inspection and auditing, encouragement and sanctioning of lawbreakers.
The press release said the draft law is a response to the needs of the government in strengthening good governance, increasing effectiveness, transparency, efficiency and accountability of controlling, using and managing State property.
Control of public finance is for the best interests of the nation and the people in achieving the vision of 2030. It will turn Cambodia into a country of upper-middle incomes and high incomes in 2050, according to the release.