THE THIRST FOR

GOOD GOVERNMENT:
REBUILDING PEOPLES TRUST IN
PUBLIC SERVICES
By EK SONN CHAN
2006 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee
for Government Service
Presented at the 48th Ramon Magsaysay Awards Lecture Series
1 September, 2006, Manila, Philippines

Introduction
Cambodia was devastated by internal conflicts during the rule of Khmer
Rouge from 1975-1979. Many homes were damaged and many lives were
lost. Personally, I have lost much during that period of time. I was lucky
to survive the genocide regime and the fact that I am able to stand before
you now is indeed a miracle by itself.
After 1979, we started to rebuild our country. I was appointed to head the
Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) in 1993. As a Phnom
Penh citizen and parent of small children, suffered by lack of clean water
in the city, I was energetic and eager to transform PPWSA into an efficient
water supply authority that could provide good water service to everyone
in Phnom Penh.

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PPWSA in 1993
Some of you may have read the article on the situation of PPWSA before
I have been appointed as the head of that organization in the local
newspaper, but let me just briefly describe how deplorable it actually was.
The Supply Situation
When PPWSA resumed its operations in 1979, much of the water
facilities were destroyed. By the year 1993, PPWSA was supplying to the
city 63,000m3 of water a day covering 40% of the city area and serving
only about 20% of the total city population. At best, water supply was
intermittent and only available for 10 hours a day.
The distribution network was very old. Most of the pipes have been laid
for more than 70 years with the newest of the pipes more than 40 years.
The deterioration of the pipes and the lack of maintenance caused high
physical loss in the system.
On the average, the supply pressure was about 0.2bar along the
distribution network. There were 1945 under ground public water tanks
in the city, where the people filled non-stop from the distribution network
for community use. This made the quality from bad to worse.
The Workforce
There were 500 staff working in PPWSA with the average monthly salary
of 50,000 Riels (approx 20 USD). Basically, the staff were under
qualified, underpaid, not motivated and worked with low efficiency
because of many different reasons.
Nepotism was widely practiced and discipline among the workers was
low. The top management and their men were working for their selfinterest rather than the interest of PPWSA and the morale of the staff
outside the circle of the top management was low.
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As a Public Utility
PPWSA in 1993, was a perfect example of what a public utility should
never be.
From application for water connections to availability of water and
payment of bills, PPWSA was biased and discriminated between the rich
and powerful and the common residents. Clean water supply was scarce
and PPWSA staff abused its power for its own gain.
Formal application for water connections was impossibly difficult. No
one knew who and where to approach for water connections. However,
illegal connections could be made through third party middle men
connected to the top management of PPWSA. These illegal connections
could cost as high as 1000USD and were never reflected in the books of
PPWSA. Water connections then were mainly for the powerful families
and the rich who could afford to pay the high "under-the-table" money.
You can imagine the frustration of the people, that your rich and powerful
neighbor has direct water connection while you, just staying beside his
house, could not even apply for a connection and need to buy water from
the resellers at exorbitant price.
Some of these frustrated residents took matter into their own hands and
started making their own illegal connections. The water pressure in the
pipeline was so low that many resorted to using pumps. This caused big
chaos in the water supply system.
The billing system was improperly documented and highly inaccurate.
The actual volume of water billed was only 28% of production. Even out
of this, the collection ratio was only about 50%.
In many instances, the families with house connections were never billed
and some residents who received water bills did not even have any water
connections. The authority coerced these people to pay their bills.
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With all these happenings, the people had no recourse to make any
complaints, and no one to reach out to. In the general public, PPWSA was
a name synonymous to corruption, inefficiency and a big bully.
The Performance
With all the above, it was no surprise that the Non Revenue Water (NRW)
in 1993 was more than 70%. The water tariff was lower than the cost of
water produced and PPWSA operated under high financial difficulty.
Many times, it was unable to pay its electricity bills, and sometimes even
unable to purchase aluminum sulfate for water treatment purposes.
The total annual income generated was only 0.6 billion Riels against the
operating cost of 1.6 billion Riels. Heavy government subsidy was
required.
The Transformation
I must say that it was really a lucky break for me when I took over the
PPWSA in 1993. Their performance was so bad that any improvement I
made thereon looked so good.
House Cleaning
The very first thing I did to counter all the negative elements and
inefficiencies within PPWSA was to restructure the whole top
management. Higher management was given more direct responsibilities.
More dynamic younger generations with better qualifications were
promoted to higher level with more responsibilities. Inefficient 'old timers'
in high positions kept their positions but moved into dormant roles.
This change in PPWSA Culture was based on Educating, Motivating and
Disciplining. This younger generation of managers was given much
training in the various skills required to run PPWSA effectively.
Incentives such as higher salary (10 times more than before) and bonuses
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for good performance were introduced. However, penalty was also

imposed for those with bad performance and bad intentions. Managers
were also taught to be responsible and the spirit of teamwork was very
much stressed. The work responsibility of the staff was more streamlined
and the total workforce was reduced.
There was much resistance in the beginning. Those affected managers
tried to fight me with all kind of tricks, sometimes with the support of
some powerful people and even the media. I was frustrated and saddened
many times. However, I did not give up because I had high confidence in
my new management team. I was patient because I knew the situation will
turn out to be better when we start to show progress. It could not be truer.
The resistance turned into support as we started to show progress and gain
the support of the general public. Within a few years, I had created an
efficient and discipline workforce within PPWSA.
Self Sustained Operations
I knew very well that, to be effective in our operations, we must depend
on ourselves and not on government subsidy. Our operations need to be
self-sustaining and we need to be efficient. We singled out 4 main areas
to address.
1.!

Complete and Up-To-Date Consumer Database To be fair, we

need to bill only our "actual" customers, thus the need to overhaul
the customer database. We launched a massive customer survey. It
took us one year and 100 staff going around Phnom Penh, checking
house to house for water connections. We discovered 12,980
documented connections were not receiving our water while 13,901
connections were receiving water but were never documented.
Through a financial grant from the French government, a
computerized billing system with an up-to-date customer database
was completed and fully operational by 1996. In 2000, we went a

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step further and computerized all our financial transactions and

reporting. A comprehensive Management Information System was
completed in 2003. With this online system in place, we are now
able to access the latest financial data and collection status at the
touch of a button. This system not only helped to avoid manual
errors and prevented the abuse of power but also helped in our
management decisions.

2.!

Lower NRW. In order to keep the water tariff at a reasonable level,

we need to bring the Non-Revenue Water down. There is no short
cut to this objective. Much effort was put into this area.
! Disciplining PPWSA staff from the top down. All managers and
staff were warned not to abuse their power, especially not to
involve themselves with illegal connection activity. Those found
guilty would be removed immediately.
! Inspection teams were set up to locate illegal connections. The
public was advised to stop the activity of illegal connections.
Incentives were given to anyone who can provide information on
these connections. Heavy penalty was slapped on those found to
be with illegal connections.
! A repair team was organized to be on standby 24 hours to make
proper repair and maintenance of the distribution network. The
public was encouraged to call and inform PPWSA on any leakage
within the system. On top of that, our repair teams would start
looking for water leaks if any leaks were suspected in the
different zones.
! With the assistance from different donors, we replaced all the
unreliable, non-working, old distribution network.

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For years, even till today, we have regular bi-weekly meetings to

gauge our performance in reducing our NRW. We made small
progresses every time. Every water leaks found were treated as
achievement for the NRW team. Today, we are proud to declare
that our NRW is less than 10%. This plays a huge part not only in
our self sustainability but also in maintaining our water tariff in
spite of the incessant increase of the prices of electricity and
chemical lately.
3.!

Improved Collections. We serve our customers fairly and expect

everyone to pay their bills without any special privileges or favors
to any party.
! We gave high priority to educate our collectors in proper meter
reading, showing courtesy to our customers and providing
satisfactory explanation on the billing data, whenever necessary.
! We also embarked on a program to educate the public, other
government agencies and even the top management of PPWSA
on the importance of paying their water bills. This was no easy
task. As a start, the top management of PPWSA started to pay our
own water bills. This made the task of convincing others easier.
! We put in a policy to disconnect the connections that do not pay
their bills. While it was easier to implement this with the general
public, it was not an easy task with certain authorities. How
would you disconnect the water connection to a military officer
who has never paid his water bill? It took much courage and effort
to accomplish this. Once, I even had a gun pointed at my head, a
harrowing experience for me personally. But it did not stop me.
However, with a lot of hard work coupled with the strong support
of our Prime Minister, we managed to improve the bill collections
to 99% from just 50% in 1993.

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4.!

A More "Realistic" Water Tariff. In most countries, water supply

is monopolistic in nature and water tariff is a political issue. For a
healthy water supply operation, the water tariff needs to be a realistic
figure that truly reflects the costs of an efficient operation. However,
the water tariff should not be too high as the public would be paying
for the inefficiency of the utility.
The water tariff we inherited was far too low and we had to
increase it to cover our operation cost. To avoid having a huge
jump in the water tariff, PPWSA proposed to have a 3-step
increase in the water tariff over a period of 7 years, in conjunction
with service improvement. With the strong support of the banks
and the commitment from the Government of Cambodia,
particularly the Prime Minister and the Governor of Phnom Penh
City, the first step increase was achieved in 1997 and the second
step in 2001. After that, PPWSA did not need to push for the third
step anymore as its revenue can already fully cover its all costs.
This was basically due to the higher collection ratio and the drop in
the NRW.

PPWSA of Today: A Public-Oriented Water Utility

When I took over, I knew that we need to re-gain the trust of the general
public in order for them to cooperate with us in solving the water woes in
Phnom Penh.
We have created much recourse for the public to reach us. We have given
them a number of 24-hour open lines for customers to report leakage or
any complaint ranging from wrong billing, impolite PPWSA meter reader
or any discontentment with our services. To show that we pay serious
attention to the complaints, I even have my mobile phone number listed
as one of the open lines. We view these calls seriously because the callers
not only bother to call us but were also paying for those calls.

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We act quickly to any report of leakage and damage to our supply system.
If we receive any report of misbehavior by staff, we will send the staff to
clarify the situation with the customer and even to apologize if we are in
the wrong.
It was no easy task. I had people calling me early morning and late at
night, shouting away nastily about their problems and our inefficiencies.
However, as we progressed over the years, the tone of these calls started
to change as more problems are solved.
Dissemination of Information
We want the public to know that we are there for them. We want them to
come directly to us for water connections and that the middle men process
is a thing of the past. We organized many public campaigns, going from
districts to districts and community to community, to disseminate
information on the availability of water connections, the quality of our
water, water tariffs and other rules and regulations.
We also handed out application forms for water connections with a
commitment to provide the connections within 3 days upon applications.
We make sure that the public is aware that PPWSA is here to serve them
the best that we can. I personally led the campaign many times. Our meter
billing is on bi monthly basis. At each billing period, our meter readers
will make 2 rounds to each household. First, to check and read the meter
and later, to deliver the water bill. During these trips, we welcome
complaints from the customer on their water bills. Sometimes, we even
helped to locate the leakages in the house of the consumers if their bills
prove to be unusually high.
At our payment booths, we have customer information desk to assist the
customers on any information they would require. Now, on the average, a
customer spends only 3 minutes at the counter paying the water bill.

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Challenges to be Addressed
Today, I know that the general public in Phnom Penh has a high level of
trust in us. I am happy that in such a small way, I am able to cater to the
basic need of our people. We need to continue to keep up the good work.
1. Grooming the next leader
As I will be retiring in 4 years time, the biggest challenge that I have now
is to groom one of our managers to lead PPWSA into the next decades.
The present top management of PPWSA is a batch of young managers
who are capable, committed, and passionate about their job. I foresee two
(2) big difficulties. One is for the next leader among them to be able to
lead over their peers and two, as young managers, they lack the social
standing which is so vital in leading and getting things done in any
government department in Cambodia.
I take this as the final test of my leadership; that I have to leave behind
me, a successor from the present batch of men and women of PPWSA,
who has the conviction and will to carry on what I have started.
2. Bridging the gap between PPWSA and the private sectors
PPWSA has done many adjustments to uplift the salary level of its staff,
to bridge the salary gap between the public and private sectors. This is
vital for us to prevent "brain drain" and to maintain a dedicated and
disciplined workforce.
Thus, through the years, beside the salary, we have created many social
schemes aim to alleviate the burden of each other among our staffs and
managers. Managers are provided with necessary equipment to fulfill
their job. We also introduced health care as an additional employee
benefit.

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However, there are setbacks to these incentives as they started to draw the
ire and envy of other government agencies. The challenge is for me to
balance between these two issues so that PPWSA will not end up being
isolated as an island within the government setup. We hope the other
agencies could emulate us rather than to isolate us.
3. Continuously maintaining a high performance level
The task is by no means completed; the goal is not yet reached. From now
on, we will be expanding even more to cater for the increased demand
from within the city, industrial zones and also expansion to the
metropolitan. We will need a minimum investment of 100 million USD
within the next 15 years.
With this, we need to at least maintain our performance level as we intend
to repay all the loans without any increase in the water tariffs. We aim to
maintain the present affordable water tariff for a long time to come in spite
of the almost daily increase in the commodities related to our industry.
This is a big challenge to us.
Personal Insights and Lessons I Learned as a Leader
1. Our Aim: Serve The People
Decades ago, our former King Norodom Sihanouk said, "Government
servants are the servants of the people". Today, our Prime Minister Hun
Sen, always insists that Good Governance is the backbone policy of our
government.
PPWSA, as a public utility, works around the clock to provide the people
of Phnom Penh direct access to clean water. Water is life. Everyone needs
water to live. We at PPWSA are paid to work for the country not just to
work for ourselves; to serve people not just to serve our own family. We
must be proud of our job and not be ashamed to fulfill our duty.

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We do not aim to make money from the people more than what we need
for a self sustained operation with the highest level of efficiency. We are
careful not to abuse our power and definitely do not want to be caught
bullying the public.
2. Good Governance - The Mark of a Good Leader
For me a good leader must be more committed to the work than everyone
else under him. A good commander is the first to go into the battle field
and the last to leave. The leader will take the bad things, leaving only the
good things for his subordinates.
A good leader works with both his superiors and subordinates to
implement his ideas and plans in providing good governance. However,
to have good governance, one must have honest staff. The leader must
make sure that the labor of his honest and hardworking staff yield
sufficient fruit to take care of their family members.
A good leader is someone who is fair and impartial; and that his policies,
rules and regulations apply to everyone, including himself, i.e. in another
word, leadership by example.
When I became the General Director of PPWSA, I made it a point to pay
my own water bill. One day, I receive a warning from PPWSA for the late
payment of water bill for my land, of which I overlooked. Instead of being
angry, I gave a personal bonus to that guy that issued the warning. I was
very pleased that the system was working.
Even though I punish my staff for their wrong doings, I am also committed
to protect them. I believe I have the rights to scold and punish my staff for
their wrong doings, but will never allow other agencies/organizations to
scold or punish them without my permission.

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3. Learning by Doing
There are many technical institutions and manuals for formal learning on
how to produce clean water, how to lay pipes, how to make water
connections, what pipes are good etc. There are also books and places
where you can learn about financial and other management techniques.
However, you cannot find a hard and fast rule on how to run an efficient
water works within the limitations and conditions of Phnom Penh. It will
require more than complete and unwavering dedication and commitment.
It requires you to have the stamina to pursue what you believe can be
done. Believe me; it was never easy to get the government to agree to our
proposed water tariff.
While we relish our many successes, we admit we have imperfections and
also failures along the way. In our minds, however, our past successes
only teach us that we can succeed again, and with our failures are lessons
learned that enable us to move on.
4. Compassion for the Poor and Needy
I believe many of us here, in one way or another, have this deep feeling
of concern for the poor and needy. Hunger and poverty remain the greatest
challenge in our country, and need to be tackled head-on. For many years,
I have tried to work to contribute to the poor and needy in my country in
line with The Poverty Alleviation Policy of our Government.
In Phnom Penh today, 30% of its residents are living subsistence lifestyle,
whose income of less than 1 USD a day are far below the poverty line.
Out of this, there are at least 20 thousand families staying in 100
communities who are poorer than others. These are the hardcore poor, the
vulnerable lot. Having direct access to clean water is a huge burden to
them.

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PPWSA has made it a point to provide water connections to these people

to alleviate their burden. For many of them, in their own words, it is a
"dream come true".
Starting from year 2000, we have connected more than 12,000
connections serving approximately 15,000 families with special
privileges ranging from payment via installments to discounts and even
free connections. These families get the same level of service from us, as
the other consumers. And yes, many of these families are not able to pay
their bills of 2USD, or 1USD or even a mere 0.5USD. For this, we pay
for them via a fund that we have created for them among the staff of
PPWSA.
We believe, if we are able to supply water directly to the poorest, then we
will be able to supply water to anyone that would need our service. This,
my friends, is what I think public service is all about.
Conclusion
I must admit I had 2 lucky breaks when I took over the PPWSA in 1993.
One, the newly elected government supported our cause and two, the
support from international countries and lender agencies. I should take
this time to thank the friendly governments, namely Government of Japan
and France and also the World Bank and ADB for their technical and
financial support throughout the years.
What PPWSA has achieved today is no miracle. We worked hard, we are
committed to our tasks in serving the people; and we have done it with
fervor from our hearts. I am happy that we have regained the trust of the
people.
With this, I would like to encourage the youths of today that nothing is
impossible. Be courageous, patient, honest and ethical in what you do and
you will succeed. Our honor is to be able to serve the people with fairness

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and equality at all levels of our society.

Lastly, I must express how proud I am of the men and women in PPWSA.
Their dedications to the tasks and honest commitment in rehabilitating
PPWSA are truly of world class. They are indeed the body that a head
cannot do without.

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