For the past five years, the Asian Development Bank has had a procedure allowing the public to call for inspections of ADB projects, but only two complaints have been filed.
So the ADB held a seminar Friday at the Hotel Inter-Continental to raise awareness of the procedures for examining ADB’s policies and practices.
Local communities and organizations directly affected by projects can request inspections of public sector loans, or guarantees financed or administered by ADB. Private sector loans, procurement decisions and finished projects are not subject to inspections.
Leang Khem, a representative from Human Rights and Communities Outreach Project, said he thinks more complaints would be filed if ADB more clearly labeled which projects it was involved in early in the public bidding process.
He also questioned whether accepting ADB loans now is fair to the future generations who will have to repay them. “Now the money [being borrowed] is spent only so-so in the right direction,” he said.
Jill Drilon, a senior secretariat official for ADB, defended the loans, saying ADB works closely with the government to make sure development money is well spent.
Long Piseth, an ADB operations analyst, pointed to ADB loans made conditional to the halting of illegal logging as an example of looking out for Cambodia’s future.
