State-owned utility Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PWSA), the first Cambodian Securities Exchange-listed company, aims to collect substantially more revenue in 2020 after a sharp drop in total revenue last year, according the result of its eighth annual general shareholders’ meeting.
In 2019, PWSA revenue declined more than 18 percent to some $52.79 million from $64.65 million in 2018, according to a financial report filed to the CSX.
The report shows that operating profit fell 45.22 per cent to $12.67 million from more than $23.13 million while net profit decreased 54.77 per cent to $8.12 million from $17.96 million
However, the company is targeting $79.83 million in revenue in 2020 with net profit of more than $24.60 million.
In 2019, the company produced 221,656,505 cubic metres of clean water supply with 23,035 new users in the city connected to potable water. The company said for the year 2020, it would increase its capacity to produce 227,009,290 cubic metres of clean water and add 20,000 more new users.
According to its annual general shareholders’ meeting, the company will share its 2019 dividend of $4.89 million to shareholders in July with 230 riel ($0.057) per share.
“We would like to thank to all our levels of staff who have contributed hard work to establish a new achievement to boost the company’s operations in response to people’s and businesses’ needs,” the company said.
The company has supported a priority projects – the National Strategic Development Plan water supply service target of 100 percent in central urban areas by 2025 and its 2030 Strategic Development Plan of supplying clean water in Phnom Penh City. Consumption of clean water increased to 331 million cubic metres in 2019.
According to current figures from the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft, 4.9 million Cambodians are already connected to clean water, representing 80 percent of urban households in the country.
Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Cham Prasidh has called on the private sector to invest in the clean water sector to assist in helping the government reach its goal.
The Cambodian government and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) early this month signed a grant agreement to expand the water supply system in Takhmao City, at a total cost of $32 million.
The project aims to improve access to safe water in Takhmao city through the construction of a new water supply facility that has a treatment capacity of 30,000 cubic metres per day and is scheduled to be completed in 2023.
The project marks the 12th grant project that has been funded by the Japanese aid organisation in Cambodia’s water supply sector and the sixth to the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) since 1993.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
