Expressway construction to begin this year

Reuters

Construction of Cambodia’s first-ever expressway, linking Phnom Penh to Preah Sihanouk province, is expected to start this year, with the government now developing a compensation plan for people affected by the project.

“We are working hard to begin construction of the road before the end of the year. This is our goal,” said Va Simsorya, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation. “We are working to calculate the compensation that will be given to people affected by the project.”

The highway will be built on a build-operate-transfer basis by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, which reached a deal with the Cambodian government in January.

It will come at a cost of nearly $2 billion, and it will stretch over 190 kilometres – shorter than the current road, which runs for 240 kilometres. It will have four lanes for the majority of its run and will take four years to complete.

“To reduce the amount of compensation to be distributed, we have changed the course of the highway at certain points to avoid major villages and crowded areas,” Mr Simsorya explained.

Another expressway project, linking the capital with Bavet City in Svay Rieng province, on the border with Vietnam, is now under consideration, with preliminary studies being conducted by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Khmer Times
Chea Vannak