The Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology’s engineering and irrigation departments have created a joint working group to rehabilitate dams and irrigation constructions damaged by recent flooding.
The group’s goal is to store water for the upcoming dry season and strengthen the surfaces of dams.
According to the ministry, the group has begun repairing the delta dam of Prek Thnot River in Phnom Penh’s southernmost Dangkor district.
The process of rehabilitating the Prek Thnot River dam started last week with support technical and financial support from China’s Guangdong Foreign Construction Company. The project is expected to be completed by mid-December at the latest.
Water resources minister Lim Kean Hor urged the group to cooperate with the provincial departments to inspect and restore irrigation constructions damaged by floods to ensure there is water to use for the dry season.
Battambang provincial water resources department director Long Phalkun told The Post on November 2 that his working group is repairing the Phnom Tapong Reservoir, which is located in the western part of Kamping Puoy Basin.
On November 1, the team finished repairing eight gates of the Kamping Puoy Irrigation System totalling 230m in Banan district.
“Many water control and drainage dams have been damaged by floods, but now our team is working to gradually restore [them] after the water recedes,” Phalkun said.
Provincial deputy governor Soeum Bunrith told The Post on November 2 that besides damaging the irrigation system, floods also destroyed several road infrastructures throughout the province.
Bunrith said: “The most urgent task in post-flood rehabilitation is to repair damaged sections of the road to facilitate traffic and providing seeds, including rice and mixed crops, to poor farming families to cultivate and restore their livelihoods.”
He said his provincial working group, in collaboration with relevant ministries, had repaired potholes, irrigation systems, and provided seeds to nearly 1,000 families. Each selected families received 100kg of rice seeds.
According to Bunrith, on November 8 Prime Minister Hun Sen will visit and offer aid, including rice seeds and crop seeds to 10,500 families who have been affected by floods.
