KEUNFAST worldwide

Source: ADB (retrieved: 30/01/2007)

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – A US$7.8 million grant from ADB’s Asian Development Fund will help improve governance in Cambodia by providing further support for the development of a local tier of government.

The project will enable more commune councils – the lowest level of elected sub– national administration created as part of a decentralization process begun in 2001 – to operate more effectively. While this level of sub-national administration is expected to take on an increasing level of responsibility, serious capacity constraints persist for most of the country’s 1,621 commune councils.

The project will also develop the national civil registration system and aims to strengthen voter understanding of democratic rights and accountabilities.

“The decentralization process is perhaps the single most important state-building development in the country since the 1993 Constitution, and the project will support this by helping to institutionalize more accountable local government and public service delivery,” says Joao Farinha-Fernandes, an ADB Economist.

The project will provide 235 commune councils with local assembly premises that will provide adequate working facilities for elected councilors and their constituents, thus helping to establish the newly introduced institution of elected local government.

It will help develop a modern and computerized civil registration system to assist the population’s access to justice administration, based on official birth, death, and marriage documents. More comprehensive and accurate information based on the system will also improve government public service delivery and general policy making.

Last, it will provide a fund to support training for elected commune councilors, clerks, and government officials in concepts of local democracy and accountability, council tasks, roles, and services. A mass media fund will also be established to disseminate key messages on local democracy, participation, and accountability through TV, radio, and village theaters over 24 months.

The project follows the successful implementation of the pioneering Commune Councils Development Project, backed by a $10 million loan from ADB in 2002, that provided facilities and support required for 440 commune councils to function effectively.

A $200,000 technical assistance grant, from ADB’s Gender and Development Cooperation Fund, accompanies the project to support the advancement of gender equity in local governance in six target provinces.

The Government will contribute $1.98 million equivalent in the form of counterpart staff and equipment. The Ministry of Interior is the executing agency for the project, which is due for completion in December 2009.

Source: ADB website (15 December 2006)

Restoration of Cambodia’s Railway to Boost Regional Transport Links
MANILA, PHILIPPINES – ADB will help rehabilitate Cambodia’s railway network and reconstruct destroyed lines as a step toward boosting regional transport links, through a US$42 million loan to the country under the Greater Mekong Subregion Program.

Cambodia’s railway is in poor condition because of war damage and decades of neglect. The last 48 kilometers of track toward the border with Thailand were completely destroyed during the conflict.

The project will rehabilitate almost 600 km of track, associated bridges and other structures, and will rebuild the destroyed link to Thailand that will reestablish railway traffic between the two countries.

The project will also improve rail transport to and from the ports in Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh, to better serve the country’s international trade. Last, the project will restructure the railway sector and privatize railway operations under a public-private-partnership arrangement.

“Faced with deteriorating railway services and lacking the resources to turn the railway around on its own, the Government requested ADB to prepare a comprehensive project for rehabilitation and restructuring of the railway. The goal is to turn the railway into a self-sustained and efficient provider of transport services that will benefit the country in the future,” says Peter Broch, an ADB Transport Economist and mission leader for the project.

“The railway in Cambodia forms a strategic part of the Greater Mekong Subregion’s Southern Corridor that connects Cambodia, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Restoring it will pave the way for the proposed future construction of a new railway line between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City in Viet Nam. This would complete the Singapore-Kunming Railway Link and further strengthen economic development and regional cooperation among the three countries.”

Within Cambodia, efficient railway services will improve the efficiency of the transport sector at large by offering a safe and cost-effective alternative to truck transport for heavy and hazardous cargoes such as cement, containers and fuel.

This would help to reduce general transport costs and would cut down future heavy truck traffic on the roads. This in turn reduces the future cost of road maintenance and the risks of traffic accidents, by easing traffic and keeping transports of hazardous materials away from crowded villages and towns.

ADB’s loan accounts for 57% of the total $73 million cost of the project, which is cofinanced by a $13 million loan from the OPEC Fund for International Development, to be administered by ADB. The Government of Malaysia is providing a grant (in kind) of rails for reconstruction of the destroyed line to Thailand. The Government of Cambodia will contribute $15.2 million.

The ADB loan comes from its concessional Asian Development Fund and carries a 32-year term, including a grace period of eight years. Interest is charged at 1% per year during the grace period and 1.5% per year subsequently.

The Ministry of Public Works and Transport is the executing agency for the project, which is due for completion in 2009.

Source: ADB website (retrieved: Jan. 30, 2007)

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA – A far-reaching program to accelerate cooperation in agricultural development among the six countries of the Greater Mekong Sub-region or GMS – Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam – was finalized in the historic city of Siem Reap.

More than 80 delegates from the governments of the Mekong countries, research institutes, aid agencies and private sector agricultural companies attended the 3-day meeting. It was the fourth meeting of the GMS Working Group on Agriculture which is part of the overall economic cooperation program in the GMS, supported by ADB.

The meeting was held to discuss a strategic framework for enhancing cooperation in agriculture, and prepare for the first GMS agriculture ministers’ meeting schedule to be held in Beijing, China in April 2007.

Participants were welcomed by the Governor of Siem Reap Province, His Excellency Sou Phirin. The meeting was opened by the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry of Cambodia, His Excellency Chan Tong Yves.

In his remarks, Mr. Chan Tong Yves noted the tremendous progress made by the Kingdom of Cambodia in achieving food self-sufficiency in a relatively short period of time. He mentioned that Cambodia wishes to end the vicious cycle of poverty and move beyond food security to better food quality, safety and exportability.

Urooj Malik, Director of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources of ADB, highlighted the importance of agriculture in the region – especially to the poor.

“Of a regional population of about 316 million, two thirds live in rural areas and depend on subsistence agriculture,” Mr. Malik said.

The meeting approved the strategic framework for cooperation in agriculture in the GMS and a five-point core agriculture support program.

The program focuses on cross-border trade, information sharing, capacity building at all levels from farmers to research institutions, preparedness for agricultural and natural crises, and strengthening the linkages and partnerships among agricultural institutions and other stakeholders.

The program is expected to be endorsed by the agriculture ministers of these countries at their meeting in Beijing in April 2007.

Source: ADB (retrieved: 30/01/2007)

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA – A far-reaching program to accelerate cooperation in agricultural development among the six countries of the Greater Mekong Sub-region or GMS – Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam – was finalized in the historic city of Siem Reap.

More than 80 delegates from the governments of the Mekong countries, research institutes, aid agencies and private sector agricultural companies attended the 3-day meeting. It was the fourth meeting of the GMS Working Group on Agriculture which is part of the overall economic cooperation program in the GMS, supported by ADB.

The meeting was held to discuss a strategic framework for enhancing cooperation in agriculture, and prepare for the first GMS agriculture ministers’ meeting schedule to be held in Beijing, China in April 2007.

Participants were welcomed by the Governor of Siem Reap Province, His Excellency Sou Phirin. The meeting was opened by the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry of Cambodia, His Excellency Chan Tong Yves.

In his remarks, Mr. Chan Tong Yves noted the tremendous progress made by the Kingdom of Cambodia in achieving food self-sufficiency in a relatively short period of time. He mentioned that Cambodia wishes to end the vicious cycle of poverty and move beyond food security to better food quality, safety and exportability.

Urooj Malik, Director of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources of ADB, highlighted the importance of agriculture in the region – especially to the poor.

“Of a regional population of about 316 million, two thirds live in rural areas and depend on subsistence agriculture,” Mr. Malik said.

The meeting approved the strategic framework for cooperation in agriculture in the GMS and a five-point core agriculture support program.

The program focuses on cross-border trade, information sharing, capacity building at all levels from farmers to research institutions, preparedness for agricultural and natural crises, and strengthening the linkages and partnerships among agricultural institutions and other stakeholders.

The program is expected to be endorsed by the agriculture ministers of these countries at their meeting in Beijing in April 2007.

Source: ADB (retrieved 30/01/2007)