Will Cambodia’s Funan Techo canal be a success?

Cambodia’s plan to build a canal linking its capital to the coast and end dependence on Vietnamese ports has raised a barrage of questions about its economic viability and environmental impact.An RFA reporter traveled the proposed route of the waterway and spoke to residents who will be relocated. First in a two-part series.

Mot Yen’s ramshackle kitchen is nestled under an old mango tree. It’s near the end of the season and there’s no fruit on the branches. Part of the kitchen wall has fallen off but the family doesn’t plan to fix it. “We’re moving anyway,” the 56-year-old farmer said. Just a couple of hundred meters (yards) away from her house in Chey Oudom 2 village in Kien Svay District, Kandal Province, is a construction site where the Cambodian government held a groundbreaking ceremony for former leader Hun Sen’s monumental project – the Funan Techo Canal – on Aug. 

Hundreds of people were invited to the launch of the US$1.7 billion project, waving flags and floating balloons as celebratory drums beat and Buddhist monks chanted blessings.

Read more