'A Lot,' But Not Enough Rural Help: Minister

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
11 July 2008

The government has introduced a number of projects into rural areas, a top official says.

Through work by the government and other non-governmental agencies, Cambodia's rural areas are developing, but much is left to be done, a minister said Thursday.

"I realize we have borrowed money from donors a lot but we have done a lot for people," Minister of Rural Development Lu Laysreng said, as a guest on "Hello VOA."

A number of projects has produced 28,000 kilometers of roads, more than 6,000 bridges, and half a million wells, Lu Laysreng said.

Cambodia receives about $600 million per year in donor aid.

Meanwhile, many in the countryside remain poor despite the development, Boua Chanthou, director for the Partnership for Development in Kampuchea, or Padek, said.

"The need is still tremendous," she said, also as a guest on "Hello VOA."

Lu Laysreng acknowledged that land issues remained a critical problem for people in the countryside.

"I'm suffering over this," he said.

Parties Push Rural Development Issue

Villagers of Pailin, like other rural areas, face diverse difficulties, from the lack of latrines to jobs.

By Win Thida, VOA Khmer
Original report from Pailin
09 July 2008

[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the second in a two-part series examining the rural development.]

Rural development in Pailin remains low, causing voters in the area to consider carefully which political party they'll choose July 27.

Nine political parties are putting up candidates for Pailin, and it is clear in their platforms they are seeking to attract votes through promises of development. Policies of rural development have meanwhile become a key subject for political parties, as they seek support from people who lack many basic services.

Villagers in this remote region of mountains, once a Khmer Rouge stronghold, complain of difficulties ranging from lack of schools and hospitals to rough roads and long distances from markets.

Recognizing that rural development in Pailin has not met the needs of all villagers, Pailin Governor Y Chean told VOA Khmer recently that the ruling Cambodian People's Party has made rural development one of its "four mandates" for the National Assembly following this election.

"For the four mandates, if CPP wins the election, rural development will continue to help the people, especially various infrastructures and some other problems facing the villagers," Y Chean said.

Other parties are seeking to bring their messages of development to the people of Pailin.

"The party will develop the agriculture sector better than now, and then infrastructure and irrigation for the whole municipality" of Pailin, Seng Sokheng, secretary-general for the Hang Dara Democratic Movement Party, said recently.

Minister of Rural Development Lu Laysreng, who is a member of Funcinpec, said rural development in Pailin faces many challenges: lack of clean water, toilets, hygienic condition and jobs.

"Funcinpec will upgrade the healthcare in rural areas, especially development to help the people, because the healthcare in rural areas is the main problem to solve," he said.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said cited the elimination of corruption as a main factor for rural development. Corruption leads to an ineffective response to people's needs, he said.

Pailin has more than 50,000 residents and has one representative seat in the National Assembly.

In Pailin, Rural Development Remains Elusive

By Win Thida, VOA Khmer
Original report from Pailin
08 July 2008

[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the first in a two-part series examining rural development.]

Villagers around the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin complain that they are facing a lack of clean water, schools, hospitals or clinics and land for farming.

Steung Trang commune is 30 kilometers from Pailin, accessible only by a gravel road that was only recently repaired, in time for the July 27 election.

Kong Naren, a villager in Tum Nup Thmei village, Steung Trang commune, Srala Krao district, said recently people here are facing a lack of farmland, water, latrines, hospitals and schools, and where there are school, there are not enough teachers. Srala Krao translates as "outside of school," in fact.

The lack of rural development in places like Srala Krao has become one of the election issues parties have taken up. Nine of the country's 11 competing parties campaigned around Pailin during the June 26 kickoff, promising the kind of development that voters in rural areas say they need.

Kong Naren has 10 children, but none of them go to school. A schoolhouse is too far away, he said, about 7 kilometers. Moreover, the family's poverty makes it too hard to send them to school. The children instead work to raise money for the family or help farm.

"My life here is facing all kinds of difficulties," Kong Naren said. "No water, no food, the house is deteriorating; our living is desperate. My family is like other families, desperate."

The only water sources come from the rain or a river red with earthen runoff, villagers said.

In the nearby village of Andong Reaksa, conditions are much the same.

"We face a lot of problems, no water, no land to farm," said one villager there. "These are the two greatest difficulties we are facing."

"We don't have enough schools, no pagoda for children to attend, so they cannot read and write," said another villager.

Some residents here said their land along the main road had increased in value until it was stolen, forcing them to work as farm laborers on another's land.

Steung Trang commune chief Vorn Ruom said he had 16 villages with 4,000 residents, most of whose living conditions were poorer than other villagers in Pailin.

His villagers lacked clean water, schools, teachers, hospitals or clinics, healthcare and medicine. Their farm produce is offered cheaply, because they are too far from town for good prices.

The people in Pailin where there is no development are looking for political parties that can convince them development will come, in more ways than a single gravel road.