In May 2023, the former prime minister of Cambodia – Hun Sen – led a cabinet meeting that gave the green light to the “Funan Techo Canal”, the first waterway system in Cambodia, which will connect Phnom Penh Autonomous Port to Kep Province of Cambodia. The canal is 180 kilometers long, stretching from Prek Takeo of the Mekong River to Prek Ta Ek and Prek Ta Hing of the Bassac River, and connects to Kep province. The project will cut through four provinces in Cambodia including Kandal, Takeo, Kampot, and Kep province of Cambodia.
The plan is to build a waterway that is 100 meters wide, with a navigation depth of 4.7 meters. The project also includes the construction of three water gate systems, eleven bridges, and 208-kilometer sidewalks, which will be constructed by China Bridge and Road Corporation (CRBC) using the Build-Operate-Transfer model.
Current Cambodian prime minister Hun Manet strongly supports the project, promising that it won’t produce harmful environmental impacts, particularly on the Mekong River – a river shared by several ASEAN countries. In December last year, Hun flew to Vietnam to assure his Vietnamese counterparts that the project would not affect the water flow in the country’s part of the Mekong River. But some say it just may, and as a result, will undermine the 1995 Mekong Agreement – an agreement signed by Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos who promised to cooperate together in managing the river.
fredag 12. april 2024
How Cambodia’s Chinese-backed Funan Techo Canal Risks Destabilizing the Lower Mekong Delta
