ODA News in Cambodia

June 16, 2009

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide $59.4 million to Cambodia for its infrastructure improvement, trade crossing border and deals on the global financial crisis, an official said today.

“The budget will be used for improving the irrigation system, agriculture products and public infrastructures,” Ieng Sophalet, spokesman to Prime Minister Hun Sen told reporters after the talks between Prime Minister Hun Sen and Vice-President of ADB Lawrence Greenwoods at the Cambodian Foreign Ministry.

“It also will facilitate the trade crossing border among the Great Mekong Sub-Region and deals on the global crisis,” he added.

“The budget project will be implemented for the next two years from now,” he said, adding that it is an additional budget from the ADB after it agreed to provide 194 million U.S. dollars for the next two years.

According to a statement from the ADB, resources are provided in the form of concessional loans and grants to low-income DMCs with limited debt repayment capacity for developing member countries.

December 04, 2008

The Asian Development Bank is (ADB) providing 10.81 million U.S. dollars to support efforts by Cambodia to improve its public financial management to ensure thatmuch-needed government funds reach the rural poor, said an ADB press release here on Thursday.

The program consists of 6.71 million U.S. dollars of grant for the first of two sub-programs that will strengthen public financial management (PFM) reforms in the three ministries supporting rural development, namely the Ministry of Rural Development, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, it said.

Another 4.1 million U.S. dollars of grant will fund an institutional and capacity development project under the program.

The two grants will focus on improving the capacity of the three ministries in PFM subsystems relating to budget formulation, execution, procurement, and reporting; and internal audit for better service delivery to rural communities.

The two grants support Cambodia’s Public Financial Management Reform Program, which was launched in December 2004 by the Ministry of Economy and Finance to address weaknesses in the public financial management system, according to the release.

While the benefits of recent growth have been widely spread across Cambodia, the rural poverty rate has not declined as expected. The poverty rate in rural areas was estimated at 39 percent in 2004 compared with the national rate of 34 percent.

With an estimated 80 percent of the population living outside the main urban centers, this translates to more than 4 million people living below the poverty line in rural areas, said the release.

Poverty reduction is severely hampered by the limited effectiveness of public spending due to the weak link between policy and the budget.

“The ministries that support rural development in Cambodia are currently the weakest and most underfunded of all the ministries. As a result, service delivery in rural areas is slow and the ruralpoor do not have many economic opportunities,” Prasanna Kumar Jena, Governance Specialist of ADB’s Southeast Asia Department, was quoted as saying.

A strong public financial management system will help the government implement its National Strategic Development Plan, which aims to reduce poverty, particularly through policy and financial support to the agricultural sector, which employs an estimated 70 percent of the rural population and accounts for a third of gross domestic product, said the release.

The capacity development needs of the government’s National Audit Authority will also be taken into account by the program to improve the overall governance framework of Cambodia’s public sector, it added.

Source:Xinhua

Written by Georgia Wilkins

Thursday, 30 October 2008

In a bid to alleviate the worst effects of rising food prices on the poorest of the poor, the government and the ADB have launched a new program to help them

Photo by: GEORGIA WILKINS

Finance Minister Keat Chhon at the launch of the ADB’s emergency food security package in Battambang province on Wednesday

BATTAMBANG
THE ASIAN Development Bank launched its US$38 million Emergency Food Project Monday, choosing Pich Chenda commune in Battambang Province to begin the first round of rice handouts to Cambodians who have been the worst affected by global increased food prices.

The distribution is the first phase of a three-year project that will also provide subsidized seeds and fertilizers to farmers, as well as set up food-for-work programs.

“From today to Wednesday next week, the project will be distributing rice to 341,894 poor people, approximately 68,000 families, living in 200 communes of the provinces around the Tonle Sap lake and Oddar Meanchey,” said Arjun Goswami, ADB’s country director.

Finance Minister Keat Chhon attended the launch of the project, to which the government is committing an additional $5 million.

“Through this project, targeted at Cambodian poor people, we will not only be able to alleviate their poor living conditions…but also help many poor farmers boost agricultural yields,” Goswami said.

Farmers in Pich Chenda, an isolated farming community in Phnom Prek district near the Thai border, have been pushed to sell their products short as soaring food prices hit them earlier this year.

Despite being situated on prime agricultural land, they have no access to a market or their own processing facilities, and must rely on middlemen to buy their goods.

Answer to the crisis

The governor of Battambang, Prach Chan, said that the project was “the answer to the current crisis”.

“Increased food prices have worsened conditions,” he said.

But others, while welcoming emergency relief, called for broader measures to be

taken.

“The roads urgently need to be repaired. There is nearly no access to markets,” said Deputy Governor of Battambang and provincial project manager Sun Heng.

“Farmers need loans from creditors or banks so that they can get access to production material to process their own products,” he added.

Heng Rin, a 38-year-old widow who supports six children, said that the situation has gone from bad to worse since the food prices climbed.

“I am happy to receive the rice, but the bags will probably only last a few weeks,” she said.

Goswami told the Post after the launch that he was aware that there were multiple sets of problems.

“It’s not a crisis of availability, but a crisis of price,” he said.

Posted on 10 October 2008

Source: The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 581

“The Asian Development Bank – ADB – announced yesterday, 8 October 2008, that it will provide emergency food, corresponding to US$35 Million, to the poorest families in Cambodia while they are challenged by the rising price of food and of fuel.

“The poorest families living around the Tonle Sap Lake and in poor communities in Phnom Penh will receive rice and other food. Food will be provided also to children leaning in primary classes at different education centers and at primary schools.

“The aid of the ADB will help to increase employment through ‘food-for-work’ programs, and poor farmers will receive seeds and fertilizer for increasing yields.

“Mr. Arjun Goswami, the ADB Country Representative in Cambodia, said, ‘The aid of the ADB will help half a million of the poorest Khmer people from starvation.’

“Since more than one year ago, the price of rice increased twice, and the price of meat and of fish increased between 30 and 50 percent, while farmers seriously suffered with the price of fertilizer rising three times.

“Many poor families had sold their property and asked for loans with very high interest rates for buying food, which leads to more serious poverty.

“Mr. Goswami added that “Cambodian families generally spend around 60% of their income on food, therefore, the rising price of food gravely affects the poorest families.’

“One out of three children in Cambodia suffers from malnutrition, and the present food crises increased the burden and the extent of malnutrition among children in this country.

“Mr. Goswami added, ‘The aid of the ADB aims mainly to save children from being affected by malnutrition, which can block their physical and mental growth, which causes different diseases to appear later.

“The emergency food aid package of the ADB covers US$17.5 million in grant aid and US$17.5 million as a concession loan. The Royal Government of Cambodia will contribute US$5.8 million to support this project.

“Mr. Cheam Yeap, a high ranking official of the Cambodian People’s Party, said that as a Khmer citizen, we welcome the aid provided by international organizations, especially by the ADB, that always helps us. The provision of food aid is strengthens the livelihood of the Cambodian people. Previously, we could share food for some extent.

“Mr. Cheam Yeap continued to say that the aid of the ADB is good for the Cambodian government led by Samdech Akak Moha Senapadei Dekchor Hun Sen, and it is also an achievement that the new fourth term government has received as a new gift from an international organization for the Cambodian people.”

Written by Brendan Brady and May Kunmakara

Thursday, 09 October 2008

Source: the phnom penh post

The emergency package comes as the WFP restarts school meal program aimed at keeping poor rural students in class

The ADB’s country director Arjun Goswami at the press conference Tuesday

THE ADB announced Monday its official approval of an emergency food-aid package, providing US$35 million to the most vulnerable Cambodians struggling with ballooning commodities prices.

The $17.5 million grant and $17.5 million loan will be supplemented by $5 million from the government.

“Our target is to get food on the plate within three weeks, but we need to make sure the system is fully transparent first,” said the ADB’s country director, Arjun Goswami. He added that most of the program’s deliverables would come in the first of its three-year timeframe.

The measure will address the needs of both suppliers and consumers, distributing food rations to those most in need and selling seeds and fertilisers to farmers at a subsidised rate, the bank said. The plan also includes work-for-food programs.

The project aims to provide immediate relief to populations around the Tonle Sap lake, which have been hardest hit by rising commodities prices, according to poverty mapping conducted by the ADB and the government.

The domestic price of rice and fertiliser has doubled over the past year, while the price of meat and fish has increased      30 to 60 percent, according to the ADB. It estimates that nationwide the population has lost half a billion dollars in purchasing power due to inflation.

“Forty million is not the full need for even the Tonle Sap region. The initial quick assessment we did suggests the need for just the Tonle Sap region may be closer to $80 million or $85 million,” Goswami said.

Mahfuz Ahmed, an ADB agriculture economist overseeing the project, added:  “People have less diversified economic opportunities in the Tonle Sap area…. These are 500,000 people who are desperately poor.”

Three “slums” in Phnom Penh are also targeted for assistance. The ADB measure comes after the government requested urgent assistance in May.

Despite the country’s bounty of rice, about a quarter of the farming population are net rice purchasers as poor access to capital and processing facilities forces them to sell short to middlemen at undesirable rates.

“We are also looking at those things as part of our medium and long-term strategy,” but at the moment “are facing a short-term situation”, he said.

The bank said its relief package would complement the UN World Food Program’s recently restarted $9 million school meal scheme, which provides meals to 450,000 rural school children before they start their lessons. The WFP was forced to suspend the school meals program in May due to high food prices.

A Cambodian schoolboy eats cooked rice during a school breakfast, supported by the World Food Program

A Cambodian schoolboy eats cooked rice during a school breakfast, supported by the World Food Program at Sangkum Seksa School, in Kampong Speu province, about 65 kilometers (40 miles), west of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on April 29, 2008. The U.N. humanitarian food agency said Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008 it has resumed the free breakfast for hundreds of thousands of poor Cambodian schoolchildren after securing funds for running the program this year.

(Heng Sinith/AP Photo)

Associate Press (AP)

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

The Asian Development Bank announced Wednesday $35 million in emergency food aid to ease the burden of soaring food prices among some of Cambodia’s poorest people.

The assistance will provide free rice, seed and fertilizer to 500,000 Cambodians, the poorest of the poor among the country’s 14 million people, the bank said.

The recipients include slum residents in the capital, Phnom Penh, and farmers in seven provinces around the country’s Tonle Sap lake.

“When the food price inflation spike came, these communities were already in a fragile state. It drove them more sharply over the edge into food poverty,” said Arun Goswani, the bank’s country director.

The program will run through September 2011.

Over the past year rice prices in Cambodia have doubled, the ADB said in a statement. It added that the price of meat and fish has risen 30 to 50 percent, and farmers have been hit hard by an almost tripling in fertilizer prices.

About one-in-three Cambodians live below the national poverty line of just 45 cents a day.

Mahfuz Ahmed, the bank official in charge of the food project, said that of Cambodia’s 14 million people, about 2.6 million sometimes go hungry and suffer from malnutrition.

The bank said half the aid will be in grant form and the other half is a loan carrying an interest rate of 1 percent per year.

The project will also provide free breakfasts and take-home rations for poor children in primary schools.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081008/ap_on_re_as/as_cambodia_food_aid_1&printer=1;_ylt=AsBWSH4CtEqAy4nRiI5JT1L9xg8F

Mon, Feb 18 2008

LONDON (Thomson Financial) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Cambodia have launched a project to restore rail traffic between Thailand and Cambodia by 2010, by rehabilitating around 600 kilometers of track and reconstructing another 48 km near the Thai border.

The ADB will prive a 42 mln usd concessional loan for the project — a vital component of the Greater Mekong Subregion’s southern corridor which links Thailand, Cambodia and VietNam — from its Asian Development Fund.

In addition, the ADB will provide technical assistance to Cambodia to restructure the railway by appointing an international railway operator to operate, maintain and invest in the railway over the next 30 years.

“This is one of the last steps in the creation of a regional railway that will stretch from Singapore to Beijing,” said ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda. Railway services in Cambodia are presently intermittent, and unofficial trolleys with bamboo floors operate along portions of the railway.

Investing in rail upgrade, maintenance, and better service delivery will help revitalize Cambodia’s railways, enhance internal commerce and international trade, reduce transport costs, and ease road traffic, the international agency stated. 

Source:http://ki-media.blogspot.com/2008/02/adb-to-provide-cambodia-with-42-mln-usd.html  

Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 06:54 EST 

PHNOM PENH — The Asian Development Bank provided $82.7 million in a grant and loan package to Cambodia on Monday to improve education, pro-poor support, financial system reform and rehabilitate major roads.

The largest component of the package is a $27.1 million grant that will improve the quality of education by providing 350,000 upper secondary students with textbooks, training 14,400 secondary teachers and equipping teacher-training colleges with better facilities.

Source: http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/428502

News Release

31 January 2008
Cambodia to Import Electricity from Thailand with ADB’s Help

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) today signed an agreement to provide a $7 million loan without government guarantee to build transmission lines to import electricity from Thailand into Cambodia, including to the tourism hub of Siem Reap, and the growing cities of Battambang and Banteay Meanchey where there have been power shortages.

The development will be a boost for the economy of northwest Cambodia, not just in tourism but also in agriculture, services and manufacturing. ADB financial assistance is being made to the (Cambodia) Power Transmission Lines Co. Ltd. (CPTL), a private Cambodian company.

ADB’s assistance will go toward the estimated $34 million total project cost. The balance of funding is being provided through equity and loans from the Export-Import Bank of Thailand, Foreign Trade Bank of Cambodia, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Gramercy Advisors/Arco Capital Management Family of Funds.

“This will give the region access to a constant supply of inexpensive and reliable electricity, which is essential for economic growth,” said Jo Yamagata, a Director with ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department. “We are pleased to have worked closely with the Export-Import Bank of Thailand, Arco Capital and Foreign Trade Bank in achieving this milestone.”

“This is a momentous occasion as we attracted a top international and local lending syndicate to support what is the first private cross-border, high-voltage transmission line project in the Mekong Region built to world-class standards,” said Ly Say Khieng, Chairman and CEO of CPTL. “The project will bring many benefits to Cambodia.

” The 115-kilovolt power lines will connect with Thailand’s national grid at the border. They will then run about 221 kilometers into Cambodia, mainly alongside National Road 5 and National Road 6 to Siem Reap and Battambang. In addition to connecting the major towns, the new lines will provide opportunities to wire rural communities along the route.

The high-voltage grid lines will be the first to be privately owned in the Greater Mekong Subregion. It is the first ADB private sector infrastructure project in Cambodia.

Northwest Cambodia, like the rest of the country, suffers from insufficient and unreliable power. There is no national grid and electricity is generated almost exclusively by small diesel plants that generate relatively high emissions. This hinders Cambodia’s ability to attract investment and promote sustainable economic activities, which are critical to reducing poverty.

Electricity in Cambodia is among the most expensive in the region because of the disaggregated and isolated small-scale systems.

Siem Reap is home to the famed Angkor Wat temples and is an important and growing tourism center. Many hotels in the area rely on their own power generators. There are similar power shortages in neighboring Battambang, an important agricultural center, and Banteay Meanchey, which supports manufacturing and trading activities.

Source:http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2008/12387-cambodian-electricities-projects/default.asp