Expressway benefits under scrutiny

KHMER TIMES
SUM MANET



Public Works and Transport Minister Sun Chanthol chaired a meeting on Tuesday to review the preparatory survey for the Phnom Penh - Bavet Expressway Development Project Study, conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The project study is aimed at exploring the feasibility and benefits of constructing the Phnom Penh Bavet Expressway.

Benefits include improving regional connectivity and development, shortening travel time, cutting transport costs, mitigating traffic congestion and expanding trade with neighboring countries.

Mr. Chanthol said he will further discuss the funding mechanism with the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the possibility to move the project forward.

The meeting discussed the importance of the expressway and urged the team to consider the best scenarios related to timelines, alignments and costs as well as the possibilities this expressway represents in expanding economic activities within the new areas, Mr. Chantol said.

JICA’s report says, “The objective of the project is to increase the transportation capacity as well as to improve logistics efficiency in the region from Phnom Penh to Bavet which connects Phnom Penh and the Vietnam border, by constructing an expressway, thereby contributing to the economic development of Cambodia and the Greater Mekong Subregion.”

The project falls into the road sector under the JICA guidelines for environmental and social considerations.

Mey Kalyan, a senior advisor to the Supreme National Economic Council, said the expressway from Phnom Penh to Bavet City, the border between Cambodia and Vietnam, would be an international gateway to connect to Vietnam as well as other counties in the region.

“It is time to improve the infrastructure because there will be traffic congestion,” he said.

“We need bigger infrastructure links to Thailand and Vietnam, as well as links with frontier provinces to boost the economy,” Mr. Kalyan said.
“The problem is the budget for development because it is public investment.”