Squabbling over a leadership post has scuttled a proposed government authority intended to mesh efforts to conserve Cambodia’s freshwater dolphins and promote tourism in Kratie province, a government official said Tuesday.
On Friday, co-Minister of Interior Sar Kheng dropped a subdecree to establish a Council of Ministers authority overseeing the growth of tourism in Kratie, which is largely based on schools of freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins frequently seen in the area.
Tourism Minister Lay Prohas of Funcinpec and Secretary of State Thong Khon of the CPP each insisted on heading the authority, leading to its demise, said Council of Ministers Undersec-retary of State Touch Seang Tana.
“Those who did not allow this authority to be created, they should be responsible for the dolphins,” he said. “They should think about the national interest, not the position.”
Lay Prohas denied that charge, arguing that such an authority was useless. Thong Khon was in France on Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.
Lay Prohas said that the authority would have been yet another Council of Ministers body duplicating the efforts of relevant ministries.
“I don’t want to have a parallel authority that is just useless,” Lay Prohas said. “I don’t think [such an authority] would work effectively or be considered good governance…. Too many authorities will just cause a budget problem.”
He argued that the current National Tourism Authority, of which he is deputy director and former tourism minister Veng Sereyvuth is chairman, can monitor the mushrooming industry in Kratie.
Touch Seang Tana was one of the authority’s biggest proponents, arguing that ecological changes, overfishing and an increasing number of tourists all posed problems for the dolphins.
The authority would have given a definitive account of the number of dolphins in Cambodian rivers, Touch Seang Tana said. He disputed figures offered by some locally-based foreign experts.
Last month the Mekong Dolphin Conservation Project reported that tourism in Kratie had affected the dolphins’ habitat, with tourists and speedboats polluting the Mekong’s waters.
“They are extremists, and they exaggerate the information,” Touch Seang Tana said.
Months before the current coalition government was formed in July, Prime Minister Hun Sen named the Tourism Authority as one of many Council of Ministers-controlled bodies scheduled for elimination, bowing to a long-standing donor recommendation for government reform.
No committees have been cut, however, and Hun Sen appears to have backed off the initiative.
