In a major push for socioeconomic development and generating more job opportunities, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) earmarked a three-year rolling plan for the Public Investment Programme (PIP) to complete 617 projects at the cost of $11.69 billion.
Presiding over the 6th Plenary Meeting of the Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Hun Manet said, “In the last six months, the Kingdom has received about 173 investment projects registered in the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) – including new, existing and expanding projects – with a total budget worth over $4 billion, creating 177,000 job opportunities.”
The meeting also reviewed, discussed and approved three agendas including the Draft of National Policy to End AIDS and Sustainable AIDS Program 2023-2028, the Draft of the Public Investment Program for 2025-2027 and the Draft Sub-Decree on the Organisation and Functions of the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA).
According to the Cambodian National Budget, PIP is a three-year rolling plan prepared annually to reflect the priorities aimed at achieving the National Strategic Development Plan for 2024 to 2028. The project began in 1996 during the implementation of the First Socio-Economic Development Plan.
Mr Hun Manet also briefed the outstanding achievements of the six priorities policies. The first achievement is the expansion of the social security system and the health equity fund to cover 6.8 million people.
Second, the vocational and technical training targets 1.5 million adults coming from poor and vulnerable families across the country. “Recently, the project has reached 27,894 young people of which 12,000 are being trained for free while receiving 280,000 riels per month equidistant to $70,” he said.
The third achievement is the establishment of the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) for poor families, vulnerable groups, and vulnerable families during economic crises and emergencies as the government will implement the programme starting in April this year.
Fourth is the promotion of informal economic development by creating a coordinating committee and data collection mechanisms with related stakeholders to identify and set clear targets aimed at receiving practical assistance from RGC.
The fifth achievement is the establishment of coordination mechanisms and financing programmes to boost the nation’s production, find more markets and maintain the prices of priority agricultural products at the medium level.
The last achievement was the successful deployment of 250 agricultural technical officers across communes and Sangkat in the first phase and will reach 800 other locations across the whole country in the second phase.
Mr Hun Manet also lashed out at critics indulging in making unkind remarks about the term ‘Attract Investors’ during his overseas visits. “We cannot attract all the investors that we have met overseas and the companies that officially registered with the CDC cannot build and operate businesses with $3 billion investment capital overnight,” he said.
The Premier said that if anyone wants to know the exact amount of investment, they need to check with the CDC. If you want to know the trade capacity go to the Ministry of Commerce and about the number of tourists then just go and check data with the Ministry of Tourism (MoT).
Mr Hun Manet went to add that you cannot stay 2,000 kilometres away from the Kingdom and read unsubstantiated news and then jump to a conclusion.
Based on the press release, the PIP has a total of 617 projects of which 173 are ongoing projects that require a budget of $4,67 billion while the implementation of the National Strategic Development Plan needs a budget of $7.01 billion to develop 444 projects. khmertimeskh
