Hun Sen sets Out Northeast Development Plans

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday outlined the government’s plans to spur economic growth in the northeast of the country through implementing a wide range of projects in sectors such as agriculture and the extractive industries. Rights workers have warned that little information on the plans for the area has actually reached local communities and that they could jeopardize the environment and ethnic minorities in the area if not handled properly. “No later than 2020, Cambodia will create a new fourth economic area in the northeast region, which will cover Ratankkiri, Mondolkiri, Stung Treng, Kratie and Preah Vihaear province,” said Mr.

Hun Sen during an inauguration ceremony of the NGO SOS Children’s Villages International in Ratanakkiri province’s Banlung city. “This zone will be for the agricultural sector and mineral development, yet,” he added. Mr. Hun Sen also said that National Road 78 would be completed by 2012. The road has been funded with the help of Vietnam at a cost of $25.6 million and will link Banlung city to the Vietnamese border. There is also a road being planned for construction between Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat district and Mondolkiri province’s Sen Monorom district, Mr. Hun Sen said. The plans Mr. Hun Sen talked about yesterday are part of a large scale plan agreed on in 2004 by Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The master plan for the development of the so-called “triangle area,” which includes Kratie, Stung Treng, Mondolkiri and Ratanakkiri provinces, is vast and includes trade facilitation, tourism, security, health, education, infrastructure, energy and natural resources – by no means an exhaustive list.