Plans to build a 19km-long railway along six roads in Phnom Penh will begin this year. The line is set to contribute to the capital’s urbanisation while reducing traffic congestion.

The Ministry of Environment said on its Facebook page on Monday that its secretary of state So Khan Rithy Kun had led an inter-ministerial meeting to review and provide recommendations on the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for the railway’s development.

Attending the meeting were representatives from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the Ministry of Environment, representatives from two private consultancy firms and officials from Phnom Penh Municipal Hall and Phnom Penh Department of Environment.

In the meeting, Nippon Koei Co Ltd, an international engineering consultancy, provided information about the types of trains set to be used, the location of the new lines and liquid and waste management.

Consultation firm PPIC Co Ltd was chosen to cooperate with the project’s coordinators to help implement any suggestions raised in the ESIA report.

The ministry said the railway track will be built along Charles de Gaulle boulevard, Monireth boulevard, Russian boulevard, Veng Sreng road, National Highway 1 and Tomnup Kob Srov road.

Ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra, Ly Borin, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, and Var Sim Sorya, Ministry of Public Works and Transport spokesman, declined to comment on the project.

Seng Kry, the deputy director of the Phnom Penh Municipal Environment Department, who attended Monday’s meeting, confirmed that the railway’s construction will begin this year, but the project’s cost is still unknown.

“The construction will start after the ESIA study is completed,” he said.