The Cambodian government considers reducing approved public investment projects

It is reported that the government of Kampuchea is considering reducing the number of approved public investment projects in order to retain the budgetary funds used to fight COVID-19.

As Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen pointed out in his speech on "mobilizing vaccination campaign for children under the age of 18", the Cambodian government had previously reduced financial expenditure for the same purpose. Hun Sen said that in order to deal with the epidemic, if necessary, the Cambodian government would suspend some approved infrastructure projects, but he did not mention which specific projects in the list of public investment projects would become the goal of saving budget funds. Last year, the Cambodian government approved 629 public investment projects from 2021 to 2023. Among them, 203 ongoing projects cost $8.397 billion, and the remaining 426 new projects require a budget cost of $4.399 billion.

Although covid-19 Kampuchea government has proposed the possibility of cancelling some public investment projects, Hong Sen pointed out that since the outbreak of the new crown, the major highway infrastructure projects have been going smoothly. He added that so far, the Cambodian government has spent millions of yuan to build roads in Preah Sihanoukville. Similarly, the road construction and transmission line project in Siem Reap also cost millions of yuan. In this regard, Hun Sen stressed that "the Cambodian government continues to play a strong role in the process of national development".