The gap between policy and practice of public participation in Cambodia : a case study of the Stung Hav coal fired power plant in Sihanoukville Province

Abstract

In democratic countries around the world, public should have the ability to question or able to change the government decisions that they do not agree. However, democratic country in principle like Cambodia does not allow the strong criticism of government. The strong criticism is resulted in physical threats to those who openly express their ideas. Aside of this political matter, the inadequate of legal framework for public participation is another challenge to freedom of expression. With the expectation to produce its own electricity, Cambodian government has introduced the first Coal Fired Power Plant located at village 2 of Kampenh commune, Stung Hav district of Preah Sihanoukville province. The project will import coal from Indonesia and Vietnam and operate with two unit of 50-52 MW. The total generating capacity will be 100-104 MW that expect to start its operation by the end of 2013. The project is currently under construction stage. According to the problem above, this thesis was conducted in order to determine whether there is a gap between public participation in policy and practice in Cambodia particularly in the case of Stung Hav Coal Fired Power Plant. Moreover, this study had employed both qualitative and quantitative research methodology. The primary data was collected from in-depth interviews with different key informants; whereas, the secondary data was collected on international standards on public participation, Cambodian legal frameworks related to public participation. In evaluating the practices of public participation in the Stung Hav CFPP to Cambodian existing legal frameworks, the research finds that there were a limited number of participants, limitations on freedom of expression, and passive public participation. The evaluation of the international best practices for public participation revealed similar results: the stakeholder’s suggestions were not influential, there were a limited number of participants, and affected people had limited access to information. In terms of community empowerment, NGOs played an important facilitation role empowering particular community members, but not the whole community. The absence of clear legal frameworks makes it difficult to demand accountability from the implementing agency. The absence of clear guideline is a weakness of legal framework that cause negative impacts on local community as well as nature and environment but benefit project developers, thus illustrating the gap between policy and implementation. So it can be concluded that in the case of the Stung Hav CFPP was not employed an adequate process of public participation that meets the requirements of either Cambodian laws or international best practices in public participation.