Mr. Hun Sen urged to build Funan Techo canal `as soon as possible`

(Dan Tri) – Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen called on the government to start construction of the Funan Techo canal `as soon as possible`.

Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen (Photo: PhnomPenh Post).

`I advise government leaders not to spend too much time thinking about this issue. The project should start as soon as possible. I think the government should hold a groundbreaking ceremony,` said the Senate President.

`We must become independent in the transportation sector and this goes beyond mere socio-economic development,` the former Cambodian Prime Minister added.

Mr. Hun Sen said the Funan Techo Canal will help increase market competitiveness for Cambodian goods by reducing transportation costs, and the canal will also serve as an irrigation system in the south.

Mr. Hun Sen added that the Funan Techo canal will help increase fish production and fish farming, especially helping to reduce floods when Cambodia is flooded.

Previously, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol said that the water flow through the Funan Techo canal is expected to be 5m3/s, equivalent to 0.053% of the Mekong River flow.

According to Mr. Sun Chanthol, the canal will be used for land irrigation and fishing.

He added that the project has the participation of many organizations such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Asian Development Bank, the Mekong River Commission Secretariat, and Waterway Transportation Consulting Company Limited.

Mr. Chanthol said that Cambodia has fulfilled its responsibilities under the 1995 Mekong Agreement by notifying the Funan Techo canal project to the Mekong River Commission last August.

However, the Commission said, Cambodia did not share the canal’s feasibility study even though many parties requested it and the Commission sent official letters of request twice in August and October last year.

According to the Cambodian government’s Physical and Social Infrastructure Impact Assessment, the project is expected to impact 1,585 residential homes and 149.5 hectares of residential land, along with other environmental and social impacts.

According to the report, after the project comes into operation, the transport of Cambodian import and export goods through Vietnam’s waterways is expected to decrease from the current 33% to 10%.

Graphic of the Funan Techo canal project, the red line is the part of the canal that will be built, the blue line is part of the existing Bassac River (Graphic: Straits Times).

The Funan Techo Canal is expected to start construction later this year after the state-owned China Road and Bridge Group reached an agreement to implement the project at a Belt and Road Initiative conference last October.

According to the plan, the canal will be 100m wide upstream, 80m downstream, and 5.4m deep.