The Council of Ministers this week announced two new spans across the Mekong River in the vicinity of the capital, one connecting the Chroy Changvar peninsula to Kandal’s Khsach Kandal district and another connecting Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district with Kandal’s Lvea Em.

According to a June 3 permission letter from the council released on Monday, the contract for the construction went to the Chinese state-owned China Road and Bridge Corporation.

Lim Sidenin, secretary of state at the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation, said the project was the result of a proposal from his ministry and the Cambodia Development Council, and that “the ministry is studying the impacts of this plan” on residents.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said yesterday that he did not know how much the bridges would cost.