SYNOPSIS

Disputes are common and sometimes unavoidable in many business dealings and especially more so in the Malaysian construction industry. As a result of disputes especially those that involved payment and where significant amount of money is involved and thus is tied or held up in the system. These disputes can and will affect the project’s cash flow which can disrupt the smooth running of the company and/or project. Parties affected by this type of dispute desperately seek assistance for a fast and cheap way to resolve this.

Currently, more and more construction industry players in Malaysia are becoming acquainted with the Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act or CIPAA as it is more commonly known as. The use of adjudication under CIPAA to recover payment in dispute has been a blessing for many small and medium size construction players. What is adjudication and how is it different from other dispute resolution approaches available? Is there a best time to resort to adjudication under CIPAA? Should it be used when payment disputes are encountered during the course of the project? Or should adjudication be resorted to only after completion of the project? The speaker will attempt to explore the issues surrounding this question.  


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Ir. Jeffrey Lee S.T. is currently a director of a project management advisory firm which advises mainly on CIPAA (Construction Industry Payment And Adjudication Act) payment claims, contractual disputes and project management issues. He is based in Subang Jaya, Selangor. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand in year 1980 and a MBA from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia in year 1991. He is registered as a Professional Engineer (Practicing Certificate) with the Board of Engineers, Malaysia. Beside this, he is also a qualified adjudicator and serve on the panel of Adjudicators with the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) (formerly known as Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre For Arbitration - KLRCA). He has worked in the construction industry with JKR, developer and a public listed construction company. The most recent years was spent lecturing at a university (University of Nottingham Malaysia campus) lecturing in areas of project management and contract administration.  BEng 1980 & MBA 1991