Phnom Penh municipal governor Khuong Sreng met with Japanese State Minister of the Environment Minoru Kiuchi on Friday in the Kingdom’s capital.

Sreng met with the Japanese official “to discuss work related to waste management, transportation, sewage systems and other works to improve the environment and push development in Phnom Penh”, the Phnom Penh Municipality Facebook page said.

Municipal Hall spokesman Met Meas Pheakdey declined to comment further on the matter, referring The Post to the municipality’s Facebook page. “Please visit the Facebook page. Our administration posted it there already,” he said.

Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT) programme director Em Khemara said the Phnom Penh municipality does not provide good waste collection services.

“Because [the Phnom Penh municipality] signed a contract only with Cintri, cooperation in waste management is not very good. Maybe they do not have the mechanism in place to monitor Cintri’s waste collection,” he said.

Khemara said Cintri’s service had been problematic. They are often late and spill fluids on the streets which affect people’s health. “We welcome any help in restoring the sewage and waste management systems,” he said and called on the authorities to implement effective laws to improve waste management.

“So far a number of people have been fined for littering. Sometimes the relevant ministries simply make announcements, but local authorities had not taken any serious action yet,” he said.

In January, STT released a 40-page English language report after conducting extensive research in the capital’s 12 districts.

Through questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions, it found that 99 of Phnom Penh’s 277 urban poor communities – equal to 35.7 per cent of the capital’s population – still received no waste management services.

In May, Khuong Sreng signed a research report conducted by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) over 12 months on sewer system development at Choeung Ek lake in the capital’s Dangkor district. The move allowed Jica to design a development project for the lake.