Germany disburses $35 million in aid to electrify the Kingdom

    Power lines in Kampong Speu. The government aims to have every village electrified by 2020. KT/Chor Sokunthea

Germany has disbursed $33 million in concessional loans and $2 million in grants to the Cambodian government for a project that aims to electrify rural areas, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Last week, Cambodian Minister of Economy and Finance Aun Pornmoniroth and Julian Schutz, representative of the German Development Bank (KfW), met in Phnom Penh to sign the agreements on disbursing the aid.

The project will be run by Electricite du Cambodge (EDC), according to the ministry’s press release.

Two electrical sub-stations will be built in Siem Reap province alongside a 320-kilometre transmission network spanning the provinces of Siem Reap, Oddar Meanchey, and Preah Vihear.

The project is in line with the government’s goal of giving access to electricity to every village in the country by 2020.

Victor Jona, director-general of energy at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, said that about 94 percent of the country’s 14,168 villages have access to electricity.

“We think we can achieve our goal, but we need help from our development partners to make sure we get there,” Mr Jona said.

The government also aims to give access to power to all households in the country by 2030. Only 70 percent of Cambodian homes currently have access to electricity.

This year the government approved a raft of investments in hydropower and solar energy to boost the supply of electricity. The government spent $350 million to build two 200-megawatt power plants in Kandal province. The plants will start generating power in June. Source from Khmertimes.