PHNOM PENH: National Assembly President, Heng Samrin, chaired a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee to approve a draft law on the amendment of Article 140 of the Law on Capital, Province, Municipality, District and Commune Administration.

During the meeting held on Tuesday morning, the National Assembly received the request of the Royal Government to review and study the draft law on the amendment of Article 140 of the Law on Capital, Provincial and Municipal, District and Commune Administration, which was promulgated on 24 May 2008.

The Draft Law to Increase the Board of Governors of Municipalities, Districts, Communes, Provinces and Municipalities was approved by the Council of Ministers on the morning of 1 April 2022 under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The amendment aims to increase the number of mayors, district and commune governors from five to seven in total, the number of provincial governors from seven to 11 in total, and the number of capital governors increased to a total of 11.

At Tuesday morning’s meeting, the National Assembly also received a draft law on district food safety which is to be reviewed and studied.

In his closing remarks at the Dissemination and Implementation of the National Program for Sub-National Democratic Development, Phase 2, 2021-2030 ceremony held on 21 March 2022, Prime Minister Hun Sen stated that the development of human resources in the sub-national administration is an important task, and the government has shifted more functions to the sub-national level, which has contributed to Cambodia being able to more effectively mitigate various risks.

He said, "While the local level has responsibilities, we saw that the local level is lacking in strength, so we need to amend the law limiting the number of people responsible in the framework of provincial and district governors.”

At present, in the 25 capitals and provinces of Cambodia, there are a total of 175 governors, with seven governors at each provincial capital, while in the 204 municipalities, there are 1,020 governors, with five governors at each municipality.