Floods in 2011, Cambodia’s worst in decades, caused severe damage to rural infrastructure and affected more than 1.7 million people in 18 of the country’s 24 provinces. They brought extensive suffering to the local population and seriously disrupted economic activities. Overall damage to infrastructure was estimated at about $376 million. To help restore the economic activities quickly, ADB approved the Flood Damage Emergency Reconstruction Project (FDERP) in March 2012 for a loan of $55 million and a grant of $5.25 million from the government of Australia. The project’s envisaged impact was economic and social recovery from the 2011 floods in the target provinces. Its expected outcome was restoration of critical public and social infrastructure assets to their original standards or better. It had four planned outputs: (i) national and provincial roads restoration, (ii) rural roads restoration, (iii) irrigation and flood control, and (iv) project management.
Cambodia was hit again, by serious flash floods in late September to mid-October 2013. The nature of infrastructure damage was similar to that from the 2011 floods. However, the floods this time were more intense and sudden due to heavy rainfall that combined with runoff from Thailand into Cambodia’s northwestern provinces. Twenty of the country’s 24 provinces were impacted. Total damage and losses to public infrastructure were estimated at $356 million. At the government's request and based on the FDERP’s good performance, ADB approved an additional financing (AF) of $75 million in loan and $6.68 million in grant from the government of Australia. Although the AF’s expected impact, outcome, and outputs were the same as those of the FDERP, based on lessons learned from the FDERP, development of hydrological capacity to improve flood resilience and contribute to mitigation strategies to lower the risks from climate change were included in output 3 of the AF.
Because of its urgent nature, the project was implemented with flexibility to adjust the scope and prioritize works following more detailed damage assessments. Subprojects were selected based on agreed subproject selection criteria. During implementation, ADB granted approval for replacement of some structures, including new bridges and culverts and side drains necessary to improve water flows. This flexible approach was appropriate and effective given the need to commence rehabilitation works immediately in the ensuing dry season.
At completion, the project substantially achieved or overachieved all its targets. All national, provincial, and rural roads, as well as irrigation schemes damaged by floods in the six project provinces were successfully reconstructed and/or rehabilitated. A number of roads were upgraded to double bituminous surface treatment or concrete and thus can have longer life and greater climate resilience. Road roughness as well as travel time had been reduced significantly to levels equal to or better than before the floods. Rehabilitated sections of national, provincial, and rural roads restored connectivity between farms and provincial and district markets, as well as between provincial and district centers where there are schools and health centers.
Restoration and improvement of damaged road sections has promoted economic growth, improved accessibility to rural areas, and reduced vehicle operating costs. With the rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructure, which can provide water when needed, agricultural productivity has increased from one crop to two, and even three in larger irrigation schemes. One of the rehabilitated schemes (Trapaing Thmor Reservoir) not only supports agricultural activities but also plays a flood protection role for the section of national road No. 5 between Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey provinces and for nearby rice fields and villages. As a result, average rice paddy yield has increased by 7.5% compared to pre-flood levels for the project, and by 23% between 2015 and 2018 for the AF. The average yield of all the project’s irrigation schemes increased by 12% between 2011 and 2018.
In addition to the physical outputs, the project strengthened 21 farmer water user communities (FWUCs) and built seven FWUC buildings. A total of 4,116 farmers, 42% of them women, were trained for operation and maintenance of the rehabilitated irrigation schemes. Furthermore, 10 hydromet and eight automatic weather stations (AWS) ─ providing real-time measurement of river water level and rainfall at strategically important locations to support timely flood warnings ─ were installed. MOWRAM staff were trained to manage the hydromet and AWS.
Most of the outputs and outcomes were realized at costs lower than estimated because of the effective implementation arrangement. The project had the Ministry of Economy and Finance as executing agency. It had three implementing agencies: the Ministry of Public Works and Transport for the national and provincial roads restoration; the Ministry of Rural Development for the rural roads restoration; and the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology for the irrigation and flood control components.
