A project for pets from the hun clan in the power of Cambodia to build a canal connecting the capital with the Gulf of Thailand obtained a boost while Chinese President Xi Jinping ended a three-nations tour on Friday in Southeast Asia.
The Cambodian government reported the signing Thursday of a public-private partnership contract with China worth $ 1.15 billion to finance the Funan Techo Canal project in Cambodia.
The ambitious project was launched last year, but the work stopped shortly after the inauguration in the midst of questions on the financing of the 151 kilometers (94 miles) which would link a branch of the Mekong to a port of the Gulf of Thailand.
Prime Minister Hun Manet posted on Facebook that he had met Wang Tong Zhou, president of China Communications Construction Company to discuss the construction of the canal. The President of the Senate, Hun Sen, also posted that at his meeting with the Chinese president, Xi expressed his support for the project.
Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol said on Facebook that the two parties had signed five agreements, in particular the public-private partnership contract, a shareholder agreement, an investment agreement, an engineering, supply and construction contract and an operating and maintenance contract.
The public agency by the State of Cambodia Kampuchea Press said that Cambodia investors have a 51% stake and that Chinese investors 49%. The participating companies include Cambodia Cambodia Investment Corporation in Cambodia, the autonomous port of Phnom Penh, the autonomous port of Sihanoukville and China Road and Bridge Corporation. He said the project would support 50,000 direct and indirect jobs, and the completion planned is by 2028.
Revolutionary for the canal on August 5, 2024 – The anniversary of the longtime leader Hun Sen – but the project seems to have made little progress since then.
The canal, which would take place near the capital Phnom Penh to the Coast of the Gulf of Thailand, would reduce Cambodian dependence on Vietnamese ports for sea trade. But the project raised concerns in Vietnam where the Mekong Delta pushes rice is vulnerable to sea water incursions if the flow of fresh water in the mekong And in the delta is reduced due to the canal.
Kim Sok, spokesperson for Cambodia National Resistance Council, a group formed by exile opponents in Hun Sen, told RFA that the government was trying to bring China to complete the Funan canal before the general elections in 2028 in Cambodia.
On Friday, the Chinese president left Cambodia, returning to Beijing after a five -day regional swing with prior stops in Vietnam and Malaysia.
During the trip, XI sought to present China as a reliable trading partner for Southeast Asia at a time when governments are worried about the impact of the increase in American prices on their exports.