Speech at the Inauguration of Waste Water Treatment Plant and Sewage System in Siem Reap City

Siem Reap Province, 22th April 2010

Honorable Chief of Monks, SarSanak Sam Vor Reak, Moul Ron, Venerable Monks,

Your Excellency PUTU KAMAYANA, Country Director, Asia Development Bank, Cambodia Resident Mission

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, National and International Guests,

Beloved Citizens!

Today it is my great pleasure to attend the official inauguration of the Waste Water Treatment Plant and Sewage System in Siem Reap City, funded by the ADB loan, under the Great Mekong Sub-regional Tourism Development Project.

Taking this opportunity, on behalf of the RGC and Cambodian people, I would like to convey my profound gratitude to the leadership and all fund providers of the Asia Development Bank who have always been supporting the government and people of Cambodia constantly since 1993 for the rehabilitation and development of Cambodian economy and society through making improvement in infrastructures of all areas, particularly the public works and transportation sectors. The ADB had provided a loan with the amount of USD 10.08 million for the construction of this Waste Water Treatment Plant and Sewage System in Siem Reap city and other loan schemes for the reconstruction of Cambodian railroads and the rehabilitation of the two-way railroads as well as reconnecting the old railroad which was disconnected during civil war that link Poipet to Sisophon.

Obviously, the construction of this sewage system and waste water treatment plant has multifaceted roles in promoting economic growth and social development and upgrading national reputation. For instance, the construction of this sewage system and waste water treatment plant not only help to improve environmental protection and scenery that can attract investments and tourists in all sectors, but it also raises the welfare  of the people, animals and plants and reduce city flood because Siem Reap province is the center for cultural tourism and temples which are the priceless world heritages of Cambodia, situated in mountainous and rain forest area with high level of rainfall that flows into Siem Reap city before continuing into Tonle Sap which is the national fish source that has been providing food for nutrition for the whole Cambodian people. Furthermore,  it also help supply water for irrigating the agricultural land because the poisonous and smelly waste water that has been discharged into the reservoir of treatment plant are to be processed step-by-step into useable water for watering rice and farm land, that is safe to the health and life of  people, animals and plants. Taking this opportunity, I would like to encourage that the treated water be used for farming, rather than drain it into Tonle Sap lake.

With reference to the important role of this Waste Water Treatment Plant and Sewage System, this achievement will promote the effective role of Siem Reap province in attracting more and more national and international tourists from day to day. Now, it is necessary to provide better and more responsive services to the needs of the customers, including the development of drainage system to avoid flood in the city and disruption to the travelling of tourists and for timely farming of vegetable and fruits. Because, tourism is a mean for collecting national revenue and generating employment for the citizens, and it is harmless to the environment, in which the world is worried about due to climate change which caused severe natural disasters in a number of countries. At the same time, we are proudly enjoying peace, safety, security and social order on this land of unity, solidarity and cooperation with neighboring countries. Due to our tireless effort in building roads, bridges, rail ways, water ways, and air ways across the country and connecting with neighboring countries in the region and the world, the national and international investors, tourists had gradually increased. All these factors coupled with population growth, caused the fast expansion and construction of state owned buildings, private accommodation, hotels, all kinds of factories, enterprises, that are required to have insurance conforming to the international standard in order to divert waste water from those buildings through the construction of this Waste Water Treatment Plant and Sewage System.

It is difficult to construct this infrastructure, but the management of this achievement to be highly effective in both technical and administrative issues is even more difficult, requiring high responsibility for the sustainable interest of the whole nation; and I would like the Ministry of Public Work and Transports, who is the implementing agency in constructing this Waste Water Treatment Plant and Sewage System, to be in charge of this project with and effective, transparent and highly responsible management through the regime of using Revenue to Support Expenditure, that is to ensure good governance and accountability on the technical, administrative and business aspects of this infrastructure.

I would like to take this opportunity to appreciate and fully support the cooperation between the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Public Work and Transports in jointly constructing this infrastructure with mixed roles and functions; and I would like to encourage and urge the Ministry of Public Work and Transports to continue close cooperation with the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology and the Ministry of Environment in effectively utilizing this Waste Water Treatment Plant for agriculture sector with higher productivity and for sustaining the environmental protection and welfare of the people, animals and plants.

The construction of this Waste Water Treatment is aimed at maintaining the welfare of the people, animals and plants, which is the unavoidable obligation that must go along with the renovation and development of other sectors throughout the country, especially in the provinces, according to the efforts made by the Royal Government under the collaboration and support from development partners such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as well as the active participation and efforts made by all related ministries/institutions, local authorities in all levels and workers, employees all over the country in restoring and rebuilding various physical infrastructures to make sure that the whole nation is politically stable, cohesive and peaceful and reform-oriented in all sectors in order to strengthen good governance to achieve economic growth and socio-economic development, especially the promotion of mixed transportation system in potential areas in Siem Reap, in which the Ministry of Public Work and Transports has been rebuilding, renovating and maintaining the road network connecting from all parts of the country, in particular, connecting to Siem Reap province such as: National Road No.5, No.6, No.67, No.68, No.62 and the Provincial Roads, aiming to promote the tourism supported activities, trade and create favorable environment for the industry, agriculture, education, health and push for employment growth in order to increase income to enhance the living standard of the people and national budget, aiming at achieving fast poverty reduction of the people.

In order to achieve this goal and for the sake of a bright future of Cambodia, I would like to convey my message to all institutions of the Royal Government, local authorities and all people to work more intensively and increase closer and more active cooperation with each other with transparency and high efficiency in order to improve the transport physical infrastructure together with the process of Waste Water Treatment Plant with the objective to build confidence among the customers, national and international investors and development partners on our commitment to national development and rehabilitation.

I would like to appreciate the efforts made by all related ministries/institutions, all levels of local authorities, who have cooperated in boosting the construction of Waste Water Treatment Plant in Siem Reap province successfully and I would like to congratulate the China National Aero-Technology International Engineering Corporation (CATIC) and Technical Advisor Nippon Jogesuido Sekkei Co., Ltd (NJS) and SAWAC Cambodia, that have tried to implement the construction of this Waste Water Treatment Plant project with high technology and quality according to the scheduled timeframe.

Before ending, I would like to recall once again to you all to take extra care while travelling because trips to various resorts are crowded. Therefore, if we are not careful enough there will be traffic accidents that can cause death, injury, and disability that are the root of poverty and miserly in families as well as in the society. Thus, I would like all people, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, especially students who are youth to pursue the next generation of leadership, to know how to protect your lives by always wearing helmets while riding motorcycles, if you happen to drive it should not exceed 90 Km/hr outside the city center and should not exceed 40 Km/hr in the down town and must wear seat belt at all times while being in the car and you must not drink while driving.

At the end, I would like to wish the Honorable Chief of Monk in Siem Reap, Venerable Monks, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, National, International Distinguished Guests and all Compatriots the four gems of Buddhist blessing: Longevity, Nobility, Health and Strength. May I now declare the Official Inauguration of Waste Water Treatment Plant and Sewage System in Siem Reap!