Tuesday, 8 June 2010

Water revenues rise with customer increase


via Khmer NZ News Media

Tuesday, 08 June 2010 15:00 Chun Sophal

PHNOM Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) revenues grew by 11 percent during the first five months of the year compared with the same period in 2009, General Director Ek Sonn Chan said Monday.

The water authority generated US$10 million in unaudited revenues in 2010 to the end of May, he said at a Phnom Penh press conference announcing that the PPWSA had won the Stockholm Industry Water Award for 2010.

“The increase is the result of a rise in new customers as Phnom Penh recovers following the world economic crisis,” he said.

The authority generated an average of $2 million per month since January 2010 from supplying water in Phnom Penh, an 11 percent rise from the $1.8 million averaged per month during the first five months last year, PPWSA statistics showed.

Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy secretary of state Phourk Sovannarith lauded the PPWSA as a successful supplier of clean water at an international standard, and added that its high production standards would generate future revenue growth.

“I believe the authority will be able to increase its income in the future because it provides good services to its customers, and sells water at a cheap price.”

The PPWSA vends water at $0.25 per cubic metre, kept cheap by maintaining a low loss rate around 6.3 percent, Ek Sonn Chan said.
“The rate of water we lose here is even lower than that of Paris, France,” he said.

It plans to expand production by building a third, $80 million water treatment station in late 2010, he said, able to produce some 130,000 cubic metres of water per day once complete.

Funding for the planned Nirouth water treatment plant will be provided by a $40 million loan from Japan, $20 million from Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), and the remainder financed by the authority itself. Construction will commence in late 2010, and is slated to take two years to complete.

“With the development of this new water treating station, we hope the PPWSA will be able to supply more water and consequently generate a higher income,” Ek Sonn Chann said.

Presently the PPWSA has two main water treatment stations able to produce a combined 300,000 cubic metres of water a day, distributed to customers through a 1,783-kilometre-long pipe network, according to information provided by the authority. The stations are located in Prek village and Chroy Changvar commune.

The authority plans to produce 430,000 cubic metres of clean water per day by 2015, distributed through a 2,300-kilometre-long network. It aims to distribute 560,000 cubic metres through 2,800 kilometres of pipeline by 2020.

The Stockholm Industry Water Award was awarded due to the PPWSA improving service and fighting corruption beginning in 1993, a press release said.

The authority has “shown this can be achieved in a developing country on a large-scale basis using simple but effective management techniques that are based on well-accepted business principles and strategies”, it said.

The release also noted the PPWSA planned to list on Cambodia’s upcoming stock exchange.

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