Siem Reap, Cambodia, August 20, 2024 – Today marked an important milestone in Siem Reap’s journey towards sustainable urban mobility. A consultative workshop was organized by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) to discuss GGGI’s proposal on governance framework for operation of public transport systems, an important output under the AFD-funded Air Quality Improvement Program. The workshop was chaired by Mr. Kong Sophal, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT), with opening remarks from Mr. Emmanuel Dollfus, Deputy Country Director, AFD, Mr. Ngouv Sengkak, Deputy Governor, Siem Reap Provincial Administration, and Ms. Shomi Kim, GGGI Cambodia Country Representative.

This workshop brought together key stakeholders including senior officials from all 24 provincial administrations, representatives from Siem Reap Provincial Administration and industry experts.

Ms. Shomi Kim, in her opening remarks emphasized that Siem Reap is at a critical juncture in its development, where managing its growing infrastructure needs—such as the new international airport—requires the implementation of an integrated multi-modal transport system, which ensures accessibility and connectivity for locals and tourists. The GGGI Cambodia Country Representative continued, “While the full feasibility study by the Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) is still underway, we recognize that establishing a robust governance structure for the province is critical to the project’s success and long-term operation. This is why GGGI has been closely collaborating with both the central and city governments to design this governance framework.”

Mr. Kong Sophal, Deputy Director General, MPWT, stressed for the needs for a city or province level master plan to be able to understand the different transport systems that can be implemented in Cambodia.  After the opening remarks by Mr. Kong Sophal, the  main sessions of the workshop commenced where the Siem Reap Provincial Administration presented the status of Booyoung bus operation Siem Reap City, GGGI presented the proposed governance framework for operationalization of public transport systems, the Ministry of Economy and Finance presented on Cambodia’s Public Private Partnership framework and , CDIA presented the status of its Feasibility Study for the Electric Bus Fleet.

During the presentations, participants raised critical issues related to lack of resources, need of proper legal instruments for the transport authority to function and the need for more time to implement the framework being suggested by GGGI and as well as for operation of the electric buses.  The discussions highlighted the importance of a collaborative approach involving the public sector, private sector, and designing social safeguard measures to ensure livelihood of the informal transport operators and businesses.

The E-bus project in Siem Reap was initiated by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and GGGI has been supporting the government in conducting pre-feasibility study, technical assistance and others. Currently, CDIA is conducting the full feasibility study and GGGI is supporting, under the AQIP, to develop a proposal on the governance framework for operationalization of the e-buses in the long-term.