Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today it is my great honor and pleasure to participate in this ceremony to launch the Phum Prek Tmey Water Supply Facilitywhich has been constructed with the third trench of grants from the Royal Government of Japan.
Indeed, water is the “source of development and a vital resource for the sustenance of human life”. For good health, however, everyone need clean water as a basic resource necessary for daily life regardless of age or status in society. The use of unclean water causes ill-health, impacts on the financial status of families and worse, it is a major cause of sickness and death, especially among the children. Thus, access to clean water is an important indicator of the level of poverty in society. For these and related reasons, clean water supply and hygiene are a major concern of the Royal Government.
Currently only about 60% of the urban population have direct access to clean water. The remaining 40% rely on clean water redistributed from other sources without guarantee of its quality. Even the nearby provincial town of Kandal does not have adequate clean water for use. In Phnom Penh, 85% of the people have clean water for their use, except those in the suburban areas of the city where the capacity of water supply cannot reach them yet.
The development of water supply in Phnom Penh in recent years has seen much progress. This thanks to the efforts made by the Phnom Penh Autonomous Water Supply Authority as well as the Municipality Hall in implementing the Royal Government’s guideline and the use of the various assistance from international community and friendly countries, extended to Phnom Penh Municipality for the past 10 years.
On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Cambodia and Japan and theJapan-ASEAN Exchange Year 2003, I wish to reiterate our deepest gratitude, from people and the Royal Government of Cambodia, to the people and Royal Government of Japan for their various efforts and contributions to the cause of peace and development in all sectors of Cambodia.
I would like to notice that Japan had played an important role in the process of national reconciliation in Cambodia. Then in the development stage of the country, it has provided tremendous technical and financial assistance to Cambodia, especially in the road transportation such as Road 6A, Cambodia-Japan Friendship Bridge of Chroy Changva, Kizona Bridge at Tonle Bet and so on and so forth, and in other sectors such as the education, health, social affairs, Buddhism, power, and clean water and hygiene and many others that could not be counted all by now. All these have enabled Cambodia to reconstruct and build the nation’s infrastructures across the country with prideful and noticeable progress.
We will now launch the Phum Prek Tmey Water Supply Factory, with the capacity of 50,000m3/day, as its construction has been completed with the third trench of financing under the Japanese grant. Thus, today I am very happy to learn that our people in the suburban areas of Phnom Penh and Kandal will have clean water for their use very soon in the near future.
May I highly appreciate the generous and valuable assistance from Japanese people and government, especially the one for this water supply project in Phnom Penh. The assistance with total amount of 2,579 million yen (US$22 million) will indeed help meet the need for clean water by Phnom Penh urban population and particularly those in surrounding Phnom Penh urban areas. This project will considerably contribute to the Royal Government’s policy and program, aimed at reducing the poverty among our people across the country, in general, and at changing the image of Phnom Penh with improved economic and social status, in particular.
On behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia and Cambodian people, may I ask HE Ambassador of Japan, who presents here, to convey our deep gratitude to Japanese people and government who have been providing needed aids for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Cambodia in all sectors, such as the assistance for the water supply project in Phnom Penh as witnessed here.
Let me also express my gratitude to the international community and other friendly countries who have provided support and assistance for the clean water sector in the Kingdom of Cambodia.
I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the management and staff of the Municipality Hall and particularly the Phnom Penh Autonomous Water Supply Authority for their continued strong spirit of ownership and responsibility to the tasks delegated by the Royal Government.
In closing, I would like to wish a success in their future endeavors to the management and technical staff of Kubota Construction Company and all the consultants. Ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by most sincerely extending to all of you the five gems of the Buddha’s wishes. It is my pleasure to officially declare the opening of the Phum Prek Tmey Water Supply Facility.
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