![\"\"](\"https:\/\/capitalcambodia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Page-7-Bottom-1.jpg\" "\\"Whatever")
The safeguards enforced by European Union do not help matters and put the livelihood of millions of Cambodian farmers, three million on some accounts, under tremendous pressure causing them to sink into poverty, throwing a huge spanner in the efforts of the government and the Prime Minister personally to eradicate poverty.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister can continue to talk and emphasise that reforms are critical, and that it will probably decide the survival of Cambodia\u2019s trade competitiveness. But do the downliners care or did they even care about reforms especially those related to trade and commerce and industrialisation?<\/p>\n
In 1993, a Singapore delegation comprising various state agencies drew up a master plan, which among others, proposed the creation of an industrial corridor, stretching from Phnom Penh airport to Sihanoukville seaport.<\/p>\n
Over the two decades since the master plan, industrial zones have grown on what were once rice fields or natural water catchment areas but the cost of business has grown instead of declining with cheaper electricity brought about by the country\u2019s various hydropower schemes.<\/p>\n
Even electricity has become a problem with the onset of the dry season as brownouts are forecasted to take place and the electricity board has advised hoteliers and some industries and malls to use generators alternatively on various days for up to 12 hours to minimise electricity consumption.<\/p>\n
Now whatever happened to the various hydropower generation companies and coal-fired power plants at Sihanoukville or even the Asean power grid? Can they not support or supply adequate power to keep the wheels of industry moving from now till May before the heatwave is expected to ease and demand for electricity eases?<\/p>\n
Whatever happened to the reforms of the electricity supply and electrification efforts? It appears that as more hydropower dams kick into operation, the more power is consumed or demanded. Why can\u2019t this be resolved to ensure that commerce and industry move continuously without suffering from black or brownouts that affect production while costs go up with the usage of diesel-powered generators as back-up?<\/p>\n
It appears that no matter how hard one ministry or department, or even the Prime Minister tries to cut costs and make Cambodian industry and products more competitive, another will come along to neutralise or negate these efforts.<\/p>\n
This is simply idiosyncrasy at work as the various ministries are not only not in sync, they also appear to be incompetent in dealing with the needs of reform, efficiency, quality of service and deliverables. Perhaps it is time the Prime Minister reconsiders the performance of these veteran ministers and replace them with driven and action-oriented younger personalities to achieve the reform agenda.<\/p>\n
The bloated bureaucracy has reached a plateau in terms of performance and some ministries and their leaders have reached an equilibrium where they have hit their optimum and can no longer function without the direct intervention of the Prime Minister. They are also are incapable of thinking outside the box, let alone reform or understand what it entails.<\/p>\n
In fact, many foreign visits and study tours by these officials abroad are a sheer waste of time and are often labelled as \u2018retirement junkets\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cambodia underscores the importance of enhancing national strength and self-reliance in maintaining its sovereignty and independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1433,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[39,242,243],"yoast_head":"\n