Industry minister Hem Vanndy leads the ministry’s annual meeting on February 19. Heng Chivoan
Hem Vanndy, Minister of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation, has defined the task of guaranteeing a clean water supply as the first priority of the ministry’s 2024 tasks.
He issued the declaration while presiding over an annual meeting to review the ministry’s work in 2023 and set its working direction for 2024.
“A clean, reliable water supply is our chief goal, and we will strive to implement it with goodwill and responsibility. We will do everything possible to provide 100 per cent of the population with a clean water supply by 2030,” he said.
Ministry secretary of state Nhim Khemara noted that under the first phase of its Pentagonal Strategy, the government has set five key priorities: human resources, roads, water, electricity and technology.
He added that with this in mind, the ministry would continue to improve the Kingdom’s water supply, including through an incentive policy for the private sector.
He explained that the private sector will invest in the water sector to meet the needs of the general population. Some priority locations – such as special economic zones (SEZs) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Cambodia’s economic poles of Phnom Penh and several provinces – would be targeted, as they play a key role in stimulating the national economy.
“In 2023, we supplied around 461 million cubic metres of water. This was 63 million cubic litres more than we supplied in 2022, equal to a 16 per cent increase,” he said.
In its annual report, the ministry explained that the new government has laid out plans to strengthen production capacity and provide water supply to the general population, in order to promote high-quality, safe, sustainable and affordable business operations.
The report said there are a total of 418 water suppliers in the Kingdom’s capital city, towns and districts, 11 of them public water supply authorities. The remaining 407 suppliers are private companies.
The ministry has also implemented a policy of connecting water to people who hold IDPoor equity cards (Types 1 and 2), which includes low-income families, as well as many factory workers and students.
