SOK CHAN
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| Ferries like these on the Tonle Sap may soon be taking people along other waterways. KT/Chor Sokunthea |
Phnom Penh residents may soon be able to travel to select provinces via boat as the government has pledged to build a waterways public transit system to reduce traffic congestion in the city.
Public Works and Transports Minister Sun Chanthol said yesterday during the ministry’s annual meeting that more needed to be done to facilitate passenger and cargo transit given that Cambodia was not capitalizing on the many rivers running through it, including the Mekong, the Bassac and the Tonle Sap.
“I am suggesting to the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) to study its connectivity and to build as many passenger terminals as possible and to expand the ports along the river to facilitate more cargo, especially for agriculture products from the provinces,” Mr. Chanthol said.
“Now there is no activity on the rivers, but we want to offer a public service to the people for them to take boats to work to reduce traffic jams and traffic accidents.
“We want the boat terminals to connect to the public bus stations,” he added.
According to initial plans, Mr. Chanthol said passengers will be able to depart from the city’s northern Preaek Pnov district or from the Old Market to go to the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port or to Kandal province’s Takhmau, Kien Svay and S’ang districts.
The ministry was still at the preliminary stage of studying the proposal and was unable to provide details about the project, but assured the public that the government would connect the ports to various parts of the city using buses to further ease their daily commute to work.
“I cannot confirm what the budget is and how many boats there will be but we are studying to also have a minibus to carry them from the ports to the public bus stations,” he said.
“We will consider how long it will take from each departure point, maybe between five minutes to a half hour, so it will be based on the study,” he said.
“We have never had it before but we hope we will in 2017.”
Mr. Chanthol said that the project will begin next year after the ministry and relevant stakeholders had completed its feasibility study, adding that the project will be in collaboration with the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port and members of the private sector.
City Hall spokesman Mep Meat Pheakdey welcomed the initiative, adding that utilizing the waterways would alleviate the worsening traffic congestion in the city, especially with the many large cargo trucks transporting produce.
“This project will have a lot of advantages which will reduce expenditure and traffic congestion,” he said.
Mr. Pheakdey added that City Hall officials were now working on educating Cambodians on the benefits of using public transportation services, something which will further be enhanced by a project like this.
However, he lamented that many Phnom Penh residents still preferred using their own vehicles due to the lack of connectivity between their homes and bus stations.
Cambodia’s National Tourism Alliance secretary-general Ho Vandy also lauded the project, but insisted that the government implement proper safety measures to ensure nothing untoward occurs to passengers who utilize it.
“In order to get Cambodians actively involved, there needs to be a safety guarantee for passengers on the waterway. More importantly, the government has to differentiate the ports – cargo terminal, passenger terminal, tourist terminal,” he said.
“The government needs to strengthen the safety on the ports,” he stressed.
Mey Kalyan, a senior adviser to the Supreme National Economic Council, noted that the project has been in the works for a while, but added that there had been no implementation so far. However, he encouraged the government to launch the project soon as it would improve connectivity in a country that has many logistical shortcomings.
“Cambodia should maximize its existing resources, especially the rivers, since the country has many rivers which we don’t use,” he said, adding that such a service would also be economically beneficial for the government as it would cut transportation costs for various industries.
The abysmal public transit system in Phnom Penh today, which is inefficient and unreliable, has prompted many city dwellers to use either their own vehicles or the many tuk-tuks and motodops available.
Coupled with poor road maintenance and an overpopulated city, this has resulted in severe congestion on a daily basis as commuters rush to and from work at dawn and dusk.
However, the government has made efforts to improve public transit in both the city and the country.
In September, the ministry reached out to the Japan International Cooperation Agency to conduct a feasibility study on developing an automated gateway transit system which would serve as an electric-powered mass transit system.
The initiative, which would cost $800 million, is said to be small enough – given it is only ferrying 30 passengers per coach – to maneuver the city’s minor thoroughfares.
Government-backed Royal Railway also in May started operating weekend rail services connecting Phnom Penh to Takeo, Kampot and Sihanoukville provinces.
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