PHNOM PENH: Sun Chanthol, Minister of Public Works and Transport, recently confirmed that the Phnom Penh-Bavet Expressway project had not been canceled or delayed due to the completion of negotiations and concessions in the public-private partnership agreement (PPP).

At the review meeting results of 2022 and the work direction of 2023 of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport on February 15, Senior Minister Sun Chanthol stated, it's clear that nothing changes, we start to deliver the machines, and the construction site is underway. We have completed the Phnom Penh-Bavet Expressway concession agreement and PPP.

The agreement was signed following a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Samdech Techo and Premier Li Keqiang, but China's internal procedures were slow to be completed due to Covid-19 and the Chinese New Year, so there is a slight delay in the preparation of internal documents, the minister added.

Sun Chanthol, Senior Minister, stated, “To be clear, the construction of the Phnom Penh-Bavet Expressway has not been canceled or delayed. We could sign tomorrow, but the Chinese Prime Minister cannot testify because internal procedures have not been completed.”

Furthermore, the Senior Minister stated that Samdech Techo Hun Sen had requested that the procedure be expedited. Still, the Chinese company promised that the construction site would begin in June 2023 and would be completed in 2027, parallel to the expressway from Ho Chi Minh to Mok Bai in the same year.

Phnom Penh-Bavet construction is set to begin in the middle of 2023, with a construction budget of $1,638 million. This expressway is critical in connecting China to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam via ASEAN Road No. 1, which Cambodia is expanding from two to four lanes from Poipet to Phnom Penh and connecting from Phnom Penh to Bavet on the second expressway to allow goods and passengers from China to pass through.