Cambodia promises more electricity by 2013

via CAAI

9/20/2010

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia's prime minister said Monday that nearly all of the impoverished country's 14 million people will have access to electricity by 2013.

By 2009, only about 25 percent of the population had regular access to electricity, and prices remain among the highest in the world.

"After 2013, the supply of electricity might not be enough for all people, but almost all will have access to electricity," Prime Minister Hun Sen said while inaugurating a bridge on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh.

He did not say what percentage of Cambodians would have access to electricity by 2013 nor elaborate on how he would achieve the goal.

The Southeast Asian nation's power plants use mostly fossil fuels, and the country also buys electricity from neighboring Vietnam and Thailand.

Hun Sen praised Chinese companies and Cambodian tycoons, saying they have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into coal power plants and hydroelectric dams.

The government has identified 21 potential hydroelectric dam sites across the country.

In a 2008 report, the U.S.-based International Rivers Network said "poorly conceived hydropower development could irreparably damage" Cambodia's environment and also extract a social cost.