News/Events 
Development is human endeavor, yet technology is crucial for the achievement of such endeavor. To reflect, infrastructure development in Pursat Province has started since 1997. However, until 2008 the Technical Support Team of the Provincial Rural Development Committee’s Executive Committee (PRDC Excom), the responsible body for provincial development, had found their construction projects constrained by a lack of up-to-date technological equipment. In their implementation and assessment of their local construction projects, till then, only a handful of simple tools were available for use, such as bubble level for surveying channels and small roads and rectangular wooden stick for testing dirt roads.
Fortunately, the situation started to change for the better at the beginning of this year. The provincial body in charge of local infrastructure development received new technological equipment for implementing and evaluating construction projects in the province from the National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development (NCDD). The equipment included two sets of topographic surveying equipment for surveying roads and channels, a Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) for testing soil density before road construction and testing thickness and compaction after construction, and Concrete Test Hammer for assessing the quality of concrete of bridges, culverts and school buildings.
To ensure effective use of the equipment, the province’s Technical Support Officers were trained and given the chance for hands-on practice on the new equipment through training on 20-22 July 2009. With the use of the new technology, as a result, construction projects in the province have been ensured with proper implementation and assessment in line with the technical guidelines of the Project Implementation Manual, according to Mr. Thim Sotheara, Chief of Technical Support Team of Pursat PRDC Excom, and Mr. Set Chamroeun, Infrastructure Advisor of the Project to Support Democratic Development through Decentralization and Deconcentration (PSDD).
The new equipment has also enthused and been well used by the beneficiaries of construction projects. For instance, a 1,807-meters-long dirt road in Bak Chegnchean Commune was surveyed with the topographic equipment before construction and tested for quality with the DCP after construction, while four culverts in Koh Chum Commune were assessed with Concrete Test Hammer upon building completion. Mr. Chuop Din, Chief of Bak Chegnchean Commune Council, and Mr. Him Pheng, Deputy Chief of Koh Chum Commune, similarly expressed delight in their ability to properly implement construction projects.
“We will not recognize the construction quality until it is proven satisfactory by the new equipment,” asserted Mr. Chuop Din.
Story by Mich Pum, Information Officer at PRDC-Excom, Pursat Province.
