AUTHORITIES with the anti-drug bureau hope to finalise plans for the construction of Cambodia’s first national centre for treating drug addiction during a meeting scheduled for next week in Vietnam.

Ke Kim Yan, chairman of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, is set to lead a delegation to meet with his Vietnamese counterparts in a trip scheduled from August 9 to August 13, said Neak Yuthea, director of the NACD’s department of legislation, education and rehabilitation.

Neak Yuthea said Ke Kim Yan would seek to clarify tentative plans for Vietnam to donate funds to build the treatment centre.

“In principle, the two parties already agreed last month that Vietnam would donate to Cambodia a national centre for treating and rehabilitating drug addicts,” said Neak Yuthea. He estimated the project’s cost to be roughly US$2 million.

Last year that prominent businessman Mong Reththy donated 20 hectares of land in Preah Sihanouk province on which to build a national treatment centre.

In an interview following the donation, Mong Reththy suggested that the coastal location could provide job opportunities for recovering drug addicts in nearby palm oil and acacia plantations.

Mong Reththy owns oil and acacia plantations in the surrounding area.