Cambodia to Receive Assistance from Japan

Khmer Times / Pav Suy

Wednesday, 16 March 2016

The Japanese-funded Tsubasa Bridge over the Mekong River. KT/ Jonathan Pannetier

Cambodia will receive nearly $200 million in aid and concessional loans from the Japanese government next Monday for use in funding infrastructure, renovation and demining ventures among other developmental projects, according to a Foreign Affairs Ministry statement released yesterday.

A signing ceremony regarding the funds between Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong and the Japanese Ambassador to Cambodia is set to take place on March 21, the statement read. It will be presided over by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The total assistance will amount to about 22 billion Japanese yen [about $193 million]. The aid, awarded in a grant, is worth $41 million with the rest of the money coming in the form of concessional loans.

The grant will be used to cover the costs of repairing the Chroy Changvar Bridge and improving the Kingdom’s demining equipment. The concessional loans will go towards renovating National Road 5 and a section of the Prek Kdam-Thlea Maám road.

Naoaki Kamoshida, a counselor at the Japanese Embassy to Cambodia, said in an interview with Khmer Times earlier this month that Cambodia was among Japan’s top five beneficiaries of assistance.

Yim Sovann, a spokesman for the Cambodia National Rescue Party, said he welcomed the assistance from Japan as long as it is used in a wise way.

“As Cambodia is a poor country, the Japanese assistance is really needed to develop the country. However, inside the government, there must be a mechanism to make sure that assistance goes to the right targets,” he said.

He added that the assistance would only have a lasting effect in the Kingdom if the accomplishments born from it are maintained, citing the recently-damaged, Japanese-funded Tsubasa Bridge as an example.

Japan’s Overseas Development Assistance budget totaled 88.4 billion yen ($781 million) between fiscal year 2010 and fiscal year 2014 (ending in March 2015), according to the Japan International Cooperation Agency, with 36.8 billion loaned in fiscal year 2014 alone.