A stretch of National Road 5 in Battambang province last year. MPWT
Prime Minister Hun Sen will preside over the inauguration of an 84.74km stretch of National Road 5 from Battambang province to its northern neighbour Banteay Meanchey’s Sisophon town on January 10, the Battambang provincial administration said in a press statement.
The stretch of road was renovated by the joint ventures Tekken-Taiyo and Daiho-Asanuma with technical inspections by KEI-OCG-KCI in association with KCEC and TANCONS. The upgrade project began on March 26, 2018.
For security and public order reasons during the prime minister’s visit, a segment of the road in Thma Koul district’s Chrey commune – which borders Battambang town – will be closed off from 4am-12pm. The closed portion starts from the main junction in Svay Chrum village to the exit at Ma Chheut Lake (currently marked as “Marchhit lake” on Google Maps) in Chrey Thmey village, the administration said.
The Ministry of Public Works and Transport in December noted that flowering trees of the species royal poincianas, or Delonix regia, had been planted on either side of this stretch of road. It called on the public to help protect the road and the trees.
Battambang provincial governor Sok Lou told The Post that this stretch of road was of real importance for people’s travel and in order to facilitate the transportation of goods to help boost the economy.
“This road had sustained severe damage, making it very difficult for people to travel on. It took a lot of time to get anywhere on it. With this road now repaired, it will reduce travel times and thereby reduce associated costs for the transportation of goods,” he said.
Public works minister Sun Chanthol inspected the road construction project in June last year, saying that National Road 5 is a major economic artery and important to further developing the national economy.
“National Road 5 is very important. It is part of Asian Highway 1 (AH1), connecting Myanmar to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam for transportation of goods. We also have a lot of agricultural products in Pailin, Battambang and other provinces that can be transported along this road down to the port, and soon we can connect it to the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville expressway,” he stated.
The ministry earlier stated that the National Road 5 improvement project was funded by a concessional loan from the Japanese government through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Cambodia.
