PHNOM PENH: The First Deputy Chairman of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), Senior Minister Ly Thuch, has said that there are two main factors that act as obstacles to demining work in Cambodia, including a lack of budget and technical skills. He made this statement during a Thursday afternoon press conference on the implementation of the Samdech Techo Mine Action Project under the theme "Provide Safe Land, Create Smiles," to solve the mine problem in Cambodia.

The Senior Minister said that the lack of budget is one problem that hinders the work of demining in Cambodia, however, through the Prime Minister’s mine action project and the participation of donors, the goal of a mine-free Cambodia by 2025 is in sight.

"All over the country, to become a mine-free country, we have to start from declaring mine-free villages and mine-free districts, then go up to declaring mine-free provinces," he said. "The money from the project, we use for mine clearance in villages […] Some villages need only US $5000 to clear all the mines left, and some village need US $9,000 or less. We can clear and create mine-free villages, so donors who want to participate in clearing all explosive remnants of war and have to remember that one square meter of demining work costs only 800 to 900 riel.”

He also stated a lack of human resources and technical experts as an obstacle in demining work, requiring the training of new experts and additional forces to help Cambodia achieve its goals.

He said, "We can look for other operational forces to participate in our demining work, and I will request from the Prime Minister so that international operators who are Cambodian can participate, or even the private sector, demining companies that used to work for private companies in order to search for mines before building hydropower plants, roads or the ADB or World Bank project, they can join us with their forces."

The Senior Minister called on his compatriots to join the National Salvation Movement by clearing mines, underlining that just US $1 or 4,000 riel can clear 4 square meters of land, while Cambodia has 716 square kilometers of minefields left to clear.

It should be noted that on 3 July, the Samdech Techo Mine Action Project was announced after Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered the Minister of Economy to allocate a part of the national budget for demining, in order to speed up demining work in the country.

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