With 80 per cent of the country without any access to electricity, solar power is the answer to the country's energy problems, he contends.

The lack of electricity is just one of a host of infrastructure-related problems that cripples much of Cambodia's economic and social life today. Roads, water, schools, clinics-the list of basic amenities that any country needs, but which Cambodia does not have is endless.

With the government caught up in political battles -- the latest ones in the wake of this year's general elections in July -- the onus of doing something urgently about basic needs has fallen on the shoulders of private entrepreneurs like Ford and on the growing number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) here.

``The cause of poverty in Cambodia is the lack of access to roads, water supply, health, socialservice, to credit, to skill and training. These are the most important areas of work required in the country's development,'' says Ngy Chan Pal, under-secretary in Cambodia's ministry of rural development.

At the macro level, all agree that political stability and economic growth combined with sustained foreign assistance would greatly help accelerate development.

According to the Asian Development Bank, Cambodia's GDP grew by only 2 per cent as compared to the government target of 7 per cent. Despite the holding of internationally monitored elections in July, expected growth this year is only 3.5 per cent. Foreign investment, which rose from $33 million in 1992 to $240 million in 1996 has also slumped to under $150 million again in 1997. Given Cambodia's chronic political instability, many have begun to feel that many problems can be solved only by local action and not by waiting for the government.

``In the typical Cambodian village, the first priority for everybody is safe and clean drinking water-- and we try to provide that by digging wells for them,'' says Richard Schroeder of the NGO, Partners for Development (PRD).

While the PRD has projects in other areas, Schroeder and his colleagues operate in the remote Kratie province in east Cambodia. They bring drinking water to communities that would have to wait for years if they depended on state agencies alone.

According to the Socio-Economic Survey of Cambodia (SESC) last year, in the rural sector, more than 68 per cent of housing units are dependent on unprotected wells, ponds, rivers or streams as their main source of drinking water.

While in Phnom Penh, only 9 per cent of the houses used such unsafe sources, in the other urban areas, these were used by 47 per cent of the households.

In the Cambodian context, where the state has been preoccupied with politics and civil war for years, it is NGOs-which currently number more than 200-that have shouldered the task of meeting the short-term basic needs of citizens.

NGOs are not new to such arole, having been operating here since the early 1980s. In fact, the NGO sector remained the main source of development funds and expertise to the country following the isolation -- for Cold War era political reasons -- of the Vietnam-backed Cambodian government in 1981 by Western governments led by the United States. Multilateral and bilateral aid to Cambodia were restored after the 1993 elections, but there is no shortage of work for the NGOs.

Between 1996 and 2000, it is estimated that Cambodia-based NGOs will pump in more than $375 million into various development projects, and handle nearly 20 per cent of all foreign development assistance through sub-contracts. In a reflection of the major role of NGOs in Cambodia's rural life, 80 per cent of their activities are in the countryside -- while 90 per cent of international aid are on projects in the Phnom Penh area.

The NGOs are mainly active in health, education, agriculture, water and sanitation as well as human rights and mining. But not all NGOs arecreated equal or operate above aboard, and there has been growing criticism about its propensity to spend huge amounts on staff salaries and office infrastructure.

For instance, one NGO working among destitute children uses a $15,000, four-wheel drive vehicle to roam around Phnom Penh, looking for subjects to help.Some local NGOs are also believed to be nothing more than money-making ventures for politically influential people seeking to tap foreign funds coming into the country.

``The success of the NGO sector has also meant an influx of imitators who are in it only for the prestige and easy money,'' says an Asian diplomat in Phnom Penh. But, he points out, in the absence of normal, state-sponsored development activities, NGOs have become an essential part of life for many Cambodians seeking immediate relief for their problems.