The construction of a $27 million Japanese government-funded wastewater treatment plant in Phnom Penh to improve water quality and protect the environment will begin late next year, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) announced on Friday.

Jica said the Japanese government had granted 2,777 million yen (about $27 million) in aid to Cambodia for the Phnom Penh sewage system development project.

It is just one project receiving technical and financial support from the Japanese government through Jica, it said.

Minister of the Economy and Finance Aun Pornmoniroth and Yuichi Sugano, chief representative of the Jica Cambodia office, signed the grant agreement on Friday.

Construction of the plant at Choeung Ek lake in Choeung Ek commune in the capital’s southernmost Dangkor district, Jica said, will take 32 months to complete.

“The plant will treat wastewater. It will have a capacity of 5,000 cubic metres per day,” it said.

Phnom Penh deputy governor Mean Chanyada and Phnom Penh Municipal Hall spokesman Met Meas Pheakdey could not be reached by The Post for comment on Sunday.

While flood protection and drainage improvement project Phases I, II, III and IV have been built in the capital with Japanese grants, this is the first such project for a wastewater treatment plant in Phnom Penh, the statement said.

The project will also strengthen the capacity of staff in the operation and maintenance of the plant, as well as provide financial management.

The Japanese government through Jica this year signed off on four projects worth 8,055 million yen ($77 million), including grants totalling $43 million and $34 million in concessional loans.