'A Lot,' But Not Enough Rural Help: Minister

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
11 July 2008

Through work by the government and other non-governmental agencies, Cambodia's rural areas are developing, but much is left to be done, a minister said Thursday.

"I realize we have borrowed money from donors a lot but we have done a lot for people," Minister of Rural Development Lu Laysreng said, as a guest on "Hello VOA."

A number of projects has produced 28,000 kilometers of roads, more than 6,000 bridges, and half a million wells, Lu Laysreng said.

Cambodia receives about $600 million per year in donor aid.

Meanwhile, many in the countryside remain poor despite the development, Boua Chanthou, director for the Partnership for Development in Kampuchea, or Padek, said.

"The need is still tremendous," she said, also as a guest on "Hello VOA."

Lu Laysreng acknowledged that land issues remained a critical problem for people in the countryside.

"I'm suffering over this," he said.