Two landfills were officially handed over by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to Kampong Chhnang and Pursat provincial administrations on February 22 as part of the first phase of the Tonle Sap Urban Environment Management Improvement Project built with a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Minister of Public Works and Transport Sun Chanthol spoke at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Kampong Chhnang town: “People are not very interested in the work of building landfills, as well as the wastewater treatment system, but both were made by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, and today is the first time that my colleagues and I inaugurated a landfill in Kampong Chhnang and another landfill in Pursat, two on the same day,” he said.
Chanthol said that the landfills in Kampong Chhnang and Pursat are the first two of 12 projects that ADB has provided credit and technology for the construction of.
According to the public works ministry, the entire Kampong Chhnang project is built on a total land area of 11.65ha and is scheduled to be used from 2022 to 2032 for residents of Kampong Chhnang town and the districts near the landfill.
The Pursat landfill cost more than $1.67 million and broke ground in early April 2020. It was completed in early June, 2022.
According to the ministry, the landfill has a storage capacity of up to 140,000 cubic metres and the entire project was built on a total area of 15.50ha and will be used for 15 years from 2022 to 2037 for the people of Pursat town and the districts adjacent to it.
“In addition to building a landfill, we are also building a wastewater treatment system in Kampong Chhnang that is 51 per cent completed and cost more than $18 million. Drainage systems, wastewater treatment systems and landfills are all making us healthier so we can live longer,” Chanthol said.
The design of the landfill and the construction of a wastewater treatment system are also important factors in public health. If there is no landfill or water treatment plant then waste will flow into lakes and rivers, which will affect the health of the people, according to Chanthol.
