Government to expand Siem Reap wastewater treatment capacity

• 19 August 2019
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The Ministry of Public Works and Transport plans to increase the capacity of the wastewater treatment system in Siem Reap to reach up to 80,000 cubic metres of water per day by 2040 in response to the rapid increase in waste volume in the province.

The ministry announced its masterplan on 16 August during an inspection by the Minister of Public Works and Transport H.E. Sun Chanthol, on the wastewater treatment management and the sewerage network in Siem Reap province.

The project is part of the Ministry’s master plan to improve the infrastructure in the province, which will be implemented gradually over a short, medium and long term process.

Siem Reap province currently has one wastewater treatment facility with the capacity to treat up to 8,000 cubic metres of contaminated water per day, as well as three wastewater pump stations with the capacity for draining up to 56,386 cubic metres of water per day.

According to H.E. Sun Chantol, the existing system is not sustainable enough, especially in the long term. This is due to the rapid growth of the province’s economy especially in the tourism sector which has resulted in the rapid increase of wastewater.

“The ministry has sufficient location and land to handle this waste. In fact, we have an area of ​​38 hectares in the west of the town—20 hectares of which is being used as the current wastewater treatment stations. We also have a reserved area of about 50 hectares in the eastern part as well,” said H.E. Sun Chantol.

“We will also try to our best to adopt the new technology, aiming to double the capacity of our system in both existing one as well as the future-built stations. Further, we will also use the dirt at that bottom of basin to produce organic fertiliser for crops as well, for the sake of sustainability,” he continued.

The ministry has been and is currently working with several private companies as well as other NGO partners and the Asian Development Bank and World Bank, to study the feasibility of this master plan.

Regarding wastewater management in the kingdom, the Cambodian government also plans to build a new water treatment facility worth US$200 million in Preah Sihnoukville province with a capacity to treat up to 60,000 cubic metres of contaminated water per day. (Read More)