Cambodia promises more electricity by 2013 [-Another empty promise from Hun Xen?]

Monday, 20 Sep 2010
AP

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Cambodia's prime minister said Monday that nearly all of the impoverished country's 14 million people will have access to electricity by 2013.

By 2009, only about 25 percent of the population had regular access to electricity, and prices remain among the highest in the world.

"After 2013, the supply of electricity might not be enough for all people, but almost all will have access to electricity," Prime Minister Hun Sen said while inaugurating a bridge on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh.

He did not say what percentage of Cambodians would have access to electricity by 2013 nor elaborate on how he would achieve the goal.

The Southeast Asian nation's power plants use mostly fossil fuels, and the country also buys electricity from neighboring Vietnam and Thailand.

Hun Sen praised Chinese companies and Cambodian tycoons, saying they have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into coal power plants and hydroelectric dams.

The government has identified 21 potential hydroelectric dam sites across the country.

In a 2008 report, the U.S.-based International Rivers Network said "poorly conceived hydropower development could irreparably damage" Cambodia's environment and also extract a social cost.

Aid Money Urged for Development

Kuoy minority community representatives, from left: Sok Heng, of Oddar Meanchey, and Ruos Han, of Kratie province

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original from Washigton
16 December 2008

The $1 billion in foreign aid promised to Cambodia earlier this month should go into the hands of the people and their communities, addressing government policies, a community leader said Monday.

“Poverty reduction is not what the government’s policy is,” said Sok Heng, a minority representative from Oddar Meanchey province, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”

Joined by Ruos Han, a Kuoy minority from Kratie province, Sok Heng urged the government to undertake better studies of land and forest concessions before handing them over to private businesses.

Land theft and disputes have emerged as a continuous problem in Cambodia in recent years, with minority groups especially hard hit, and both men urged the government Monday to use the foreign aid to develop communities to help alleviate it.

“Where more development occurs, that’s where people are facing difficulties,” Sok Heng said.

“Without the preservation of our natural resources, our minority community cannot survive,” Ruos Han said. Without such resources, minorities have a very difficult time surviving, because they don’t engage in typical businesses, he said.

After nearly 15 years of development, Cambodia remains heavily reliant on foreign aid for its operations, and donor countries and agencies were especially forthcoming with funding this year.

Both men said Tuesday that money does not reach its targets and is often hard to track. Money for infrastructure, schools, clinics, seed, canals and other agriculture was needed, they said.

Cambodia seeks foreign aid despite global woes [-Will Hun Sen lip service pay off big time for his regime?]

2008-12-05
Associated Press

Cambodia's prime minister asked foreign donors Thursday to continue providing economic assistance despite the global financial crisis and promised the passage of an anti-corruption law.

Speaking to donor representatives at the opening of a two-day meeting to coordinate assistance, Hun Sen said aid would be used for health care, education and other social improvements.

Cambodia is one of the world's poorest countries and is heavily reliant on foreign aid.

"Concern for the crisis ahead should not interrupt the continuous mission of poverty reduction and sustainable development," Hun Sen said.

Foreign governments and international aid agencies such as the World Bank have expressed concern about corruption and inefficiency in Cambodia's administration of aid.

The country must quickly pass a long-delayed law to fight corruption in order to build confidence among foreign investors, said Qimiao Fan, the country manager for the World Bank.

"Passing the law will be an important signal, providing investors and development partners with the confidence to make more long-term commitments in Cambodia," he told the meeting.

Hun Sen tried to assure donors he was committed to accountability for their aid and said he is strongly committed to ensure the rapid conclusion and adoption of the law.

It was not known how much donors would pledge at this year's meeting, but last year, Cambodia received US$689 million in aid. Several government ministers declined comment on a specific figure, but a senior official at the Finance Ministry, Hang Chuon Naron, cited a figure of about $900 million.

Cambodian PM promises strict management of assets to donor countries [-Another empty promise to the gullible donors?]

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The government will keep on strengthening its management of state properties according to law and improving the efficiency, transparency and accountability of public institutions and enterprises, Prime Minister Hun Sen here on Thursday told the representatives of its major donor countries.

"The government is committed to effectively managing the revenues from the exploitation of the minerals, oil and gas, and also well aware that the anti-corruption law is an indispensable legal instrument to fight corruption with good result," the premier told the Second Cambodian Development Cooperation Forum.

In this context, the Cambodian government is strongly committed to ensuring rapid conclusion and adoption of this law in close consultation with all concerned parties on the basis of all other fundamental laws that must be adopted first, he said.

Meanwhile, the premier also said that the national foreign currency reserve has increased to more than 2 billion U.S. dollars, which can ensure about 3.3 months of imports of goods and services for domestic consumption.

In addition, the banking and financial sector in Cambodia are not seriously affected by the global financial cataclysm because they are not widely exposed to the international financial system, he said.

International institutions and donor countries promised some 6 billion U.S. dollars of aid for the kingdom in 2007.

Local reports said that the government targets 7 billion U.S. dollars of foreign aid in 2008.

Watch out! Hun Sen promises maximum reduction of poverty: Meaning all poor Cambodians will be banished from Cambodia soon

October 05, 2007
Cambodian PM promises maximum reduction of poverty

The Cambodian government will flow more capital into the rural areas and the agricultural sector to build infrastructures, roads and irrigation systems in collaboration with private enterprises, so as to reduce poverty to its minimum level, said Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh on Thursday.

The government is also trying to improve the transportation system to assist the farmers to access their products to the markets and make their living better, he said at a ceremony marking the International Day of Poverty Reduction, which also featured the launch of the Cambodian Human Development Report in 2007.

Lack of professional personnel and land resources are major obstacles to poverty reduction in Cambodia, so that the government has to guarantee the poor people's rights to land and persuade parents to send their children to school, he said.

The government views poverty reduction as one of its top priorities in the national strategic development plan for the 2006- 2010 period and has realized macro-economic and political stability to ensure the goal to be made true, he added.

Meanwhile, Planning Minister Chhay Than said the government has fully and properly implemented the national plan and is confident that the objectives of poverty reduction can be achieved.

In addition, the United Nations Resident Coordinator and the UN Development Program Resident Representative Douglas Gardner said a key challenge facing Cambodia today is how to ensure that the benefits of a growing economy reach the 75 percent of Cambodians who live in rural areas.

The gap between Cambodia's urban areas and the rural poor areas continues to grow and needs to be tackled with vigor and urgency, he said, adding that the poverty rate in the rural areas currently stands at around 39 percent, compared with five percent in Phnom Penh.

According to official figures, the poverty rate in Cambodia has been brought down from 47 percent to 35 percent in the past decade and the economic growth rate stood at 11.2 percent in average in the past three years.

Poverty rates vary in different regions of the country. It stands at 52 percent in the north and northeast region, 43 percent in the Tonle Sap region, 32 percent in the Mekong Delta plains, and 28 percent in the coastal zone, according to figures released at the ceremony.

Source: Xinhua

Corruption Could Cost Millions in Abandoned Investment

Workers construct the giant Sokha Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap, August 24, 2004. Siem Reap, home to the famous Angkor temple complex and Cambodia's cultural capital, has become cluttered with construction and tourists.

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
10 August 2007

Franklin Ly, a Cambodian-American who estimates his worth is at least $1 million, had a plan to invest in Cambodia. He aborted it, he said, because of corruption and a weak rule of law.

"We wished to invest in Cambodia, in water, real estate, buying and selling land, whatever," Ly said recently. "But the fear and concern is that, because a plot of land sells to five owners, with just a land ownership certificate, the rule of law is not clear or consistent. So we were fearful." Ly's concerns for his homeland are a continuing story as Cambodian-Americans make wealth abroad and consider investing back home.

"We really want to go there," to invest, he said. "Because it's our homeland, and you always want to go back."

So far, though, Cambodians abroad, as well as many other potential investors, have found it hard to do so, despite assurances from the government to donors and the international community it is trying to tackle its endemic corruption.

Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh on a recent trip to the US claimed he and the government were working to curb corruption by reducing processing time on documents and to computerize files for businessmen to apply online to "reduce bribery." He said the system would go online at the end of the year.

And when Prime Minister Hun Sen recently met with new World Bank head Robert Zoellick last week, Hun Sen promised he was fighting corruption.

Not everyone is so sure there is much behind these promises.

Speaking to a group of Cambodian-Americans while on a visit to the US last week, US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said there was little political will among officials to fight corruption or to tackle investment as Thailand and Vietnam had.

"If they want Cambodia to gain its former glory, then it's going to have to really do some thing about corruption," he said. "But the political will, like the will to actually diet and exercise, it's much harder.

"Cambodian officials, I think, realize that corruption is so bad that something has to be done about it. But to do some thing about it is very painful. It will take great discipline, great focus and great sacrifice."

More and more US companies are looking to invest, he said, for the first time since the 1970s.

For Cambodian investors like Franklin Ly, who knows investment interest is out there, the situation is frustrating. Even more so, he said, because it is his home country.

With too much corruption and no law, these investors are "frightened," he said. "If so, it affects whom? Cambodians and Cambodia's economy. Because there are no jobs for people. If more people come to invest, more factories will mean more jobs, and that is of interest to Cambodia and its economy."

World Bank Chief: Corruption Costing Cambodia [-More sweet and empty promises from Hun Sen]

Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
06 August 2007

The new president of the World Bank ended a visit to Cambodia this week identifying corruption as a top problem as the country's economy scrambles forward.

Robert Zoellick, whose brief stay in Cambodia was part of an Asia-Pacific tour, his first in his new position, said corruption cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

"I talked briefly with Prime Minister Hun Sen on strengthening governance, building institutional infrastructure so resources are used well and [so] the huge annual international support of $690 million can be maintained, and countering the challenges of corruption that cost Cambodia between $300 million and $500 million per year," Zoellick said after his meetings.

Eang Sophaleth, a spokesman for Prime Minister Hun Sen, said the prime minister had assured the World Bank chief his government was committed to reforms under the Bank's recommendations.

Zoellick also said Hun Sen had stressed the government's commitment to curbing illegal logging, a longstanding issue between Cambodia and donors, including the World Bank.

Critics charge that illegal logging is perpetrated by a Cambodian elite who have ties themselves to the prime minister.

Cambodia unduly suffers thanks to corruption and the lack of law, said Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development.

"We need to have laws that govern all standards, high standards," she said.

CSD's appeal to help stop Cambodia's corruption will most likely be ignored by donor countries enthralled with Hun Sen's empty promises

Aid providers urged to help stop Cambodia's corruption

20/06/2007
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

International donors are being urged to pressure the Cambodian government to address its corruption problems.

In a report released last December by Cambodia's Centre for Social Development, it is ranked among the worst countries for government corruption.

The Centre's Head of Research, Doctor Chek Sotha has told Radio Australia's Asia Pacific program, the Hun Sen government must adopt the anti-corruption legislation it has before it as soon as possible.

She says corruption is hampering economic development in Cambodia.

Doctor Chek says international aid donors must make it clear to Cambodia that they won't provide aid, if corruption is not addressed.

"I think that the donors should put more pressure to the government," she said.

"What the government is doing, corruption can destroy the country and sometimes people in power may get a lot of money from the black market, so that is a problem."

CITA asks Donors to pressure the government

16 June 2007
By Mayarith
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

The Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association (CITA) issued an open letter calling for the International community which provides aid to Cambodia to apply pressure on the government to respect the promises it made, in order to lead the country towards development.

The letter was issued on Friday 15 June by CITA – which claims to represent several hundreds of thousands of civil servants – just ahead of the Consultative Group (CG) meeting to be held in Phnom Penh city.

Leng Bun Hong, a CITA representative said: “CITA calls on donor countries to please pay attention and apply pressure on the government leader so that the anti-corruption law is adopted. This government promised to ratify the anti-corruption law since the CG meeting in 2004. Then, the government promised to have the law ready by the end of 2005. Now, we can see that corruption is growing in all (government) institutions.”

There was no immediate reaction from government officials on this issue.

Political Cartoon: A Virgin Prostitute and her Empty Promises

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

A Short History of Forest Management in Cambodia

Excerpt from Cambodia's Family Tree
June 2007
Global Witness

1. The Logging Concession System.

2. The Prime-Ministerial Crackdown (Hun Sen: "If I cannot stop the logging concession companies, I will cut my throat!")

3. The "Restructuring" Process (Gov't official: "On behalf of the government, I am delighted to receive Mighty Termite Company's proposal to make a plantation.)

4. The Plantation Development