The Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, through the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-financed Climate Friendly Agri-Business Value Chains (CFAVC) Sector Project, will begin restoring 32 irrigation systems and dig 800 ponds in Takeo, Kampong Cham, Kampot and Tbong Khmum provinces.

The Ministry of Water Resources announced the beginning of the project’s implementation on Wednesday.

It would include about 27 to 32 irrigation rehabilitation projects across the four provinces, depending on the results of the inspection and its impact to the environment.

A task force will closely monitor the project to avoid delays in implementation.

From Monday to Tuesday, the ministry’s undersecretary of State Chan Sinath led a working group, which included the ministry’s provincial department and ADB experts on a visit to 12 CFAVC project sites in Takeo province.

“The ministry and relevant authorities are inspecting the geographical location, intending to speed up implementation of the CFAVC project, which we aim to successfully carry out,” said Sinath.

Takeo provincial administration director Meas Uy said 12 irrigation restoration proposals had been submitted to the ministry, some of which it and stakeholders had already visited.

The site visits were conducted in villages in Tram Kak district, including Tomnup Prey Kduoch, Tomnup Kraing Ampil, Stok Sap, Trapaing Khorn and four others.

“Through this project, there would be enough irrigation for the farmers’ crops,” said Uy.

Both provincial Department of Water Resources and Meteorology director Bun Hour and ministry spokesman Chan Yutha could not be reached for comment at press time.