A view of Mekong river in the capital's Chroy Changvar district. Hong Menea
The Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are fast-tracking the development of a joint strategy aiming to further enhance Cambodia’s meteorology and water management sector, particularly in the fight against climate change.
A key inter-ministerial meeting on July 5 brought together finance ministry secretary of state Vongsey Visoth, ADB country representative Jyotsana Varma and water resources ministry secretary of state Chan Sinath, among others.
Sinath said the meeting was aimed at accelerating the implementation of water management and meteorological forecast improvements.
“Such meetings help advance a long-term, comprehensive and sustainable vision to manage water and achieve more efficient results of managing water to serve all sectors and guarantee water security for the whole of Cambodia,” he asserted.
In the meeting, attendees detailed strategies for water management and the meteorological sector.
“With the full support of the finance ministry, the ADB agreed to make the largest investment ever in modernising the water resources and meteorology sector in Cambodia and in many other relevant sectors,” Sinath noted.
Viewing the investment and grants from the ADB as a significant triumph, he emphasised their potential to improve long-term investment work plans for modernising infrastructure, and the management of water resources and meteorology, to tackle climate change and water-related disasters.
On June 27, representatives from the water resources ministry also met with the ADB to discuss long-term investment in projects supporting the ministry’s vital functions. As a result of these talks, the ADB prepared a new $200 million package for meteorology and water management projects.
The ADB expressed its commitment to allocating funds specifically for modernising the water sector in northwestern Cambodia, designated as the Kingdom’s fourth economic pole. This includes dam projects in the provinces of Preah Vihear, Stung Treng, Oddar Meanchey and Kampong Thom.
The ADB further underlined the importance of ensuring infrastructure and water resource management are resilient enough to consistently combat climate change and withstand all types of natural phenomena and global warming.
