OREANDA-NEWS. On September 26, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a grant agreement (G/A) with the Kingdom of Cambodia to provide grant aid of up to 893 million yen for assistance for the Project for Expansion of Distribution Lines in Southern Economic Corridor.

Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, accounts for 70 percent of the country’s demand for power and as of 2013 had a high household electrification rate of 95 percent. Although intensive investment is underway to address the increasing demand for power, the dependency on power imported from neighboring countries cannot yet be avoided, and the household electrification rate in outlying areas was merely 36 percent in 2013, low even compared to the outlying areas of other ASEAN nations. The electrification rates provided through basic power lines in villages in Svay Rieng Province at the eastern border and Banteay Meanchey and Koh Kong Provinces in the west were low in 2013, merely 24, 18 and three percent, respectively, and the reliance of residents on unstable mini-grids powered by diesel generators and the like and other restrictions on power access impede the economic activities of local residents and efforts to improve social services.