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Heng Ratana, the Royal Government Delegate overseeing the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), announced that the Chinese government had allocated a grant of $4.4 million to facilitate mine clearance efforts across seven provinces in Cambodia.

As noted on Heng Ratana’s Facebook page, “On February 5, 2025, the Chinese government made the decision to disburse the third tranche of a three-year project grant, totalling $4.4 million, to the Royal Government of Cambodia to support CMAC’s demining operations in seven provinces: Kampong Thom, Siem Reap, Oddor Meanchey, Preah Vihear, Steung Treng, and Kratie. The grant will also contribute to enhancing the Dog Centre located in Kampong Chhnang province.

Furthermore, he detailed that this initiative is designed as a twelve-month project supporting over 400 CMAC technical experts, with four primary objectives: 1. to clear 3,400 hectares of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination, 2. to conduct surveys on landmines, cluster munitions, and UXO, 3. to strengthen local communities’ risk education initiatives and victim assistance, and 4. to enhance the capabilities of the landmine detection Dog Centre.

This reaffirms that 2025 marks the third year of the project (March 2023 to February 2026), which encompasses a total budget of $13.2 million.

Since its inception in 2018 until late 2024, this project has achieved notable outcomes, including the release of 15,060 hectares of land formerly affected by landmines and UXOs, the discovery and destruction of 82,844 landmines and UXOs, the response to 6,668 emergency task orders, and the provision of mine risk education (MRE) to a greater number of individuals. There are more than 1.8 million individuals and beneficiaries both direct and indirect, around 2.5 million people.