@stockrockThere are a few different factors driving the...

@stockrock

There are a few different factors driving the Cambodian push in wastewater treatment. But due to funding coming from different sources, there are slightly different strategies depending which part of the country they are in, where the money is coming from, and when the original funding decisions were made. Different Cambodian ministers then have control of the decision making for different regions.

@ywtoh brougth up an interesting session from SIWW 2021 that helps to explain some of the mindset.
https://hotcopper.com.au/posts/54395559/single
https://www.chinawaterrisk.org/resources/analysis-reviews/behind-phnom-penhs-water-success-story/
This is the story of the potable water authority of Phnom Phenh, capital of Cambodia.

“Wastewater regulation and treatment penetration are two conundrums that Phnom Penh and other developing countries must solve…. the importance of wastewater treatment is still not emphasised enough.”, said Sachdeva. And unlike in Singapore, drinking water and wastewater are managed by different organisations. Still, as PPWSA continues to grow, and so do investor expectations, they will need a handle, if not treat wastewater. To do this, PPWSA will need to adjust its tariff as only 10% of the current tariff is allocated for wastewater, but this won’t be enough. So, JICA is working with PPWSA to develop a more supplicated tariff system to enable future wastewater treatment.

For potable water, Phnom Penh has just about the lowest cost in the world for customer tariffs.
In terms of applying this model to wastewater treatment, it means that Cambodians will expect the tariff for wastewater treatment to also be low.
That is why MABR wins out in the long run, as OPEX was deemed to be the lowest of all the high quality tech.


Above you can see OPEX highlighted in an article that was written about the PS3 build.
It was also highlighted in a video about the PS2 build, even though the figures in the MBR section the person doing the graphics stuffed up in the MBR section.


Luckily, because of tourism, the Coastal and Tourism development authority was able to provide funds derived from the Free Trade Agreement between Cambodia and China for building PS1 and PS2. PS3 was also funded by land sales to Prince Group for more tourism development. That meant that local Cambodians in Sihanoukville do not need to pay for the CAPEX costs of building the plants, which means that the main consideration is the long term OPEX costs, this is where Fluence wins over other tech.

Fluence got lucky in that originally in 2018/2019 it looked like in Sihanoukville they were planning on just expanding the original lagoon type wastewater plant. But it seems as part of asking China for funding under the FTA, they had a number of meetings with Chinese companies and BUCG were awarded the Sihanoukville Masterplan. After BUCG did the planning, Fluence MABR was landed on as being a modern technology with the lowest OPEX and PS1 and PS2 were settled on.


Because Cambodia is also looking to attract international funding for all sorts of infrastructure, they need to adopt best practice. Which is why it is nice for them to be able to adopt Chinese wastewater standards and brag that the Cambodian wastewater standards that MABR meets are better than those in Europe, America and Japan. This is an example of China taking a lead worldwide in green tech, and exporting it offshore. Cambodia is then able to request funding from international aid and say, we need to meet our Sustainable Development Goals for wastewater. Look at the high quality start we have achieved. Help us to achieve full coverage.

Having the Cambodian real estate developers on board also helps.
They have to fall into line, as if they help the government to achieve their goals, then the government also helps them to win more approvals for more development projects. I did read that 4 hotel owners originally donated $500k each towards Sihanoukville wastewater treatment a couple years ago. I originally was under the impression that that was done under duress, if you don't make a donation, we will fine you for polluting or shut you down instead. But it seems that is a much more cushy relationship, where the government suggests a policy, then their friendly corporate sponsors help with donations to achieve that policy, then later the government will help them. Seems to be the way things are done there.

Sihanoukville wants to be one of Cambodia's economic poles. They are turning the whole of it into a special economic zone, international finance centre and national growth centre with coastal tourism at the core. PS1, PS2 and PS3 are about protecting the beaches and having a clean infrastructure image around the rest of the city. They can then attract more international finance.


@ywtoh the legislation you spoke of has already been drafted and passed.




In June & Aug the above documents were released specifying what types of wastewater businesses were allowed to dispose of.
It is kind of like in the Philippines with the 2016 DOA standards. In future Cambodian businesses will face the same scrutiny. So more wastewater plants will need to be built. I have high hopes that more MABR based plants will start popping up around the country. The boss of X-Water is also politically connected, so he will have his fingers in a few opportunities.


What you guys were discussing here for World Bank funding is Siem Reap and Battambang related. Decision making was made around 2019 so is prior to MABR being accepted and more based around cheaper lagoon type WWTPs.
https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/942241554084076305/pdf/Cambodia-Water-Supply-and-Sanitation-Improvement-Project.pdf
https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/992451573061257426/text/Cambodia-Water-Supply-and-Sanitation-Improvement-Project.txt
https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/project-documents/50102/50102-002-iee-en_0.pdf

I'd expect future decisions to be based more on MABR type projects now that the politicians have had a chance to see PS1 and PS2 in action for themselves. But it depends on where funding is coming from. The Japanese are also big funders in Cambodia, and they have their own companies and standards that they are connected with, so Japanese money may mean a different type of WWTP focus. So for Fluence you need more Chinese money in Cambodia to fund infrastructure.

We will see though. Those big developers that attended the PS3 inauguration and PS1 & 2 tours may be told they now need to self fund more MABR plants as part of any new development Cambodia wide. We may very well see them start to buy some Aspiral plants almost immediately, depending on what time-frames they have been given to connect themselves up to WWTPs.