Prime Minister Hun Sen and China’s ambassador to Cambodia, Wang Wentian, co-presided over the December 30 groundbreaking ceremony of upgrade projects for National Roads 31 and 33 in Kampot and Kep provinces.
The planned upgrades will span over 106 km and are expected to cost over $121 million, with the budget for the project financed through loans from China and contracts with their state enterprise construction firms along with some direct contributions from the Kingdom.
Hun Sen said that the roads were of vital importance because they connected Takeo to Kampot province before heading into Vietnam. The roads serve as important economic corridors and act as an overland complement to the maritime corridors connecting Vietnam to Thailand via Cambodia.
“This is another big achievement and among the many milestones that we need to reach to make it possible for our people to build better lives,” he added.
Hun Sen also thanked the Chinese government for providing infrastructure assistance to Cambodia on a scale that is rapidly transforming the country.
He emphasized that there are already more than 3,000 km of roads in the Kingdom that China has helped build and it is continuing to build hundreds of km more roads presently.
The prime minister also apologized to the residents living along the two roads for the disturbances they will have to deal with due to the construction in the meantime.
The Ministry of Public Works and Transport announced that the upgrade project for National Road 31 will span about 53.53 km from the intersection of Kous Road (National Road 3) to Kampong Trach Market (intersection of National Road 33) passing through Takeo and Kampot provinces.
National Road 33 has a length of about 52.57 km from National Road 3 at km 148 + 100 in Kampot to the Cambodia-Vietnam border.
The ministry stated that the two national roads are important economic links that play a role in facilitating the movement of people, tourists included, and the transportation of all kinds of goods and agricultural products, including rice, rubber, pepper, fish, salt and other fruits.
