Phnom Penh: The Government of Japan will provide 10 waste collection trucks to a recipient organization under the framework of the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (“KUSANONE”). The grant contract was signed today between H.E. Mr. UENO Atsushi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Kingdom of Cambodia, and H.E. Mr. EANG Sophalleth, Minister of Environment, to carry out the following project.
The Project for the Reuse of Japanese Waste Collection Trucks at 10 Cities in 7 Provinces to the Ministry of Environment, Cambodia. In this project, a waste collection truck will be deployed in each of the ten cities in seven provinces in Cambodia in order to improve waste collection services.
Cambodia has been struggling with ever-increasing garbage with economic development as there is a considerable lack of facility to collect the waste properly. This project will contribute to protecting public health and the natural environment, which will improve the quality of life for over 820,000 residents in the ten districts/cities in seven provinces.
H.E. Mr. UENO Atsushi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Kingdom of Cambodia, told on the day of the Grant Contract Signing Ceremony. Since 1991, the Government of Japan has been providing KUSANONE Grant Assistance to Cambodia in order to directly assist local authorities and NGOs with the implementation of their projects. KUSANONE literally means “grassroots” in Japanese, and, over the past 30 years, the Embassy of Japan has implemented 691 projects across Cambodia through the KUSANONE Grants scheme. We are pleased that these projects are directly contributing to an improvement in the quality of life of Cambodian people at the grassroots level.
H.E. Mr. UENO Atsushi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan, said, “For the project we are signing the contract for today, the Government of Japan is providing US$49,865 (forty nine thousand, eight hundred and sixty-five US dollars) to donate 10 secondhand, Japanese-made waste collection trucks for use in 10 districts and cities across 7 provinces.”
On the occasion of the Foreign Minister’s visit to Cambodia last July, the government of Japan put forward the “3 new cooperation approaches” for Cambodia. One of the 3 pillars is to enhance “social infrastructure development,” under which this project fits perfectly. This project will contribute directly to addressing the challenges of waste problems that are becoming more visible in the populated area. If the garbage is not collected properly, it may have a serious impact on the environment and people’s health, thus people’s quality of life.
He also added that although the trucks provided through this project are secondhand, they have been well maintained and kept in good condition by Osaka City. Furthermore, Japanese waste collection trucks are designed to be compact in size but have a large capacity. This means that they can access small alleyways and collect a lot of garbage without severely obstructing other traffic. I am confident that these trucks will be a great help to provide a cleaner environment for the people of Cambodia.
UENO Atsushi added “I am pleased to observe that Cambodia has been rapidly developing in recent years. However, I also recognize that there are many areas that Japan can help in order to improve people’s quality of life. Japan will continue to contribute to the solving of these challenges using various ODA schemes, including KUSANONE.”
Photo by: Supplied