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About Arbitration
Contractual disputes are common in the construction industry. Unfortunately, most of these disputes are only resolved in court, causing an over-crowded judicial system and lengthy delays in settlements.
The CDB, in its capacity as "a bridging organisation between the private and public sectors" offers itself as a neutral third party in dispute settlement. It does this by providing an optional arbitration service to all participants in the construction industry for the resolution of contractual disputes. Such disputes may be between one or more contractors, contractors and their sub-contractors, contractors and government agencies, and between joint venture partners.
The system is not mandatory and is solely provided for the benefit of the participants in the construction industry as a speedy and effective means of resolving disputes. To adopt this system, contractual parties may either insert an appropriate clause in their contracts or, following a dispute, submit the dispute by agreement to the arbitrators.
To this end, the CDB has developed a system for arbitration that is described in the "Constitution, Rules and Procedures of the Construction Arbitration Committee" which is included in this website. All requests for arbitration shall be processed and disputes shall be resolved in accordance with the provisions of these rules and procedures.
CDB does not arbitrate disputes itself; it merely facilitates the selection of qualified arbitrators by the parties themselves through the establishment of an independent and competent List of Arbitrators (membership of which is open and transparent) and provides a mechanism and procedure by which such a selection may be made.
CDB further provides a formalised mechanism and procedure by which the arbitration takes place through the provision of simple forms to be completed by the parties which will set in motion a procedure which is clear and well-defined, enabling all parties to have full confidence in the system.
The administrative tasks of the Construction Arbitration Committee ad all clerical matters arising out of the conduct of arbitration shall be carried out by the CDB Secretariat and expenses therefore shall be paid to the CDB according to the fees prescribed in the Rules. All other costs of the arbitration will be borne by the parties in accordance with the decision of the arbitrators.
