Research On Contract Terms For Construction Natural Disasters Based On FIDIC Principles

Under the trend of global warming, all kinds of natural disasters and extremeclimates happen frequently. However, most of the construction projects are underexposure to these natural disasters and the occurrence of these calamities will absolutelyhave a huge effect and loss on those projects.With the sharp expansion of the global population and the rapid development ofhuman economic activity, the existing urban land resources have been matured andreached high load operation status. The speed of urban construction is progressivelyincreasing as well and correspondingly various construction projects are comfortablyahead of schedule. All sorts of reconstruction, extension and new projects can be seeneverywhere. Yet, the construction market in China is not standardized so far. Therealways appears vicious competition and some sorts of conflicts, claim, inefficiency,inferior. Due to the characteristics of long-term, complexity and simplicity, theconstruction projects will face enormous risks, which the contracting parties can eitherwholly predict or have the ability to resist or undertake. Especially the natural disasterrisks possess the feature of extremity, randomness and other indeterminacy that cannotbe withstood by the parties. Hence, in the management of construction projects contract,it is impossible to predict some risks and to clearly write these risks and theresponsibilities into the contract. As a result, the possibility of the contradiction anddisputation that produced in work progress later will increase. Natural disasters in forcemajeure have been vaguely expressed in both Chinese Construction Contract (Sampletext) and in Contract principles of FIDIC. Therefore, the complementing andcompleting of conditions of force majeure will not only greatly avoid contract disputesand damage claiming, but also enhance the sound development of construction industry.This paper, on the basis of force majeure clauses in the FIDIC, and in the principleof fairness in assuming liabilities, counts the probability of natural disasters withextremum distribution and mathematical statistics. It takes natural disasters in Hebei asan example, and tries to define the scope of force majeure and complete specific clausesfor force majeure to complement general principles in this field. Thus, the writer intendsto seek a better balance between the property owner and the contracting party with the aim of realize a stable and harmonious constructing environment.