Phnom Penh, July 13, 2015: A half-day meeting between NGO Forum on Cambodia (NGOF), American Friends Service Committee (AFFC) and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce (CCC) was held at Canadia Tower. The purpose of this meeting was to seek cooperation from Sinohydro Company about the affected people through implementation of Kam Chhay hydropower dam project.
After the discussion, there were agreements and suggestions as below:
1. Mr. Kim Sovan informed that the company got the approval of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) from Ministry of Environment and the commitment of the company is to halt the operation of the project to address the issues of affected people.
2. NGOF suggested Mr. Kim Sovan participating in the field visit at Union Development Group (UDG) from 3-6 August, 2015; and in the upcoming meeting on “Private Sector Engagement” which would be held on 7 August, 2015 after the meeting between Mr. Kim Sovan and the Chinese researcher was conducted.
3. Mr. Kim Sovan informed that people were less confident with the Sinohydro Company to implement Kamchhay hydropower dam project with three reasons including lack of information about the project, misleading information by media, and lack of opportunities for the company and the people to meet each other in order for the Company could provide information related to this development project. In this regard, CCC suggested NGOF coordinating the meeting(s) between the company and the affected families to address all issues in the ground.
In response to the future discussion between NGOF and the president of CCC, Mr. Kim Sovan suggested following steps.
1. The discussion about the frequency of the meeting between NGOF and all Chinese companies should be made.
2. Topics would be identified and prioritized among NGOF and all Chinese companies prior to the discussion between NGOF and the president of Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
3. The meeting between NGOF and Mr. Kim Sovan would be informally made to inform the progressive situation of development project at the ground by the companies and/or the grassroots level.
“We count this as another positive opportunity for our advocacy work, since the Sinohydro Company show the willingness to corporate with CSOs in solving problem for the affected families, and currently, we are working to hunt for solution to the Kamchhay hydropower dam community. There are also many positive aspects from our discussion with President of CCC and we are going bring it for further discussion and action take,” Dr. Tek Vannra, NGOF’s Executive Director said after the meeting.
