It’s official: Colourful smoke bombs are ignited during the groundbreaking ceremony of the Funan Techo Canal in Kandal province. — AFP
THE country’s Prime Minister Hun Manet has launched a controversial US$1.7bil (RM7.6bil) canal project that aims to provide a new link from the Mekong river to the sea.
At the launch event yesterday in Prek Takeo, southeast of the capital Phnom Penh, Manet called the 180km project “historic”, as drums sounded and fireworks shot into the air.
The event was attended by thousands wearing T-shirts bearing images of Manet and his father Hun Sun, who ruled the country for nearly four decades.
“We must build this canal at all costs,” said Manet, who drew cheers as he launched the project by pressing a ceremonial button with his wife Pich Chanmony.
The Funan Techo canal will run from a spot on the Mekong river, about an hour’s drive southeast of Phnom Penh, to the sea in the Gulf of Thailand and is due to be completed in 2028.
Around a third of cargo coming to and from Cambodia uses Vietnamese ports via the Mekong, but authorities hope this number will fall to around 10% once the canal is completed.
The limited capacity of the waterway – 100m wide and 5.4m deep – has raised questions about whether the lofty economic goals can be reached.
The project also comes shrouded in uncertainty, including its main purpose – whether for shipping or irrigation – who will fund it, and how it will affect the flow of the Mekong, one of the world’s longest rivers.
Conservationists have long warned that the river, which supports up to a quarter of the world’s freshwater fish catch and half of Vietnam’s rice production, is at risk from infrastructure projects, pollution, sand mining and climate change.
Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand are signatories to the 1995 Mekong River Agreement, which governs the distribution of the river’s resources.
Cambodia has notified the Mekong River Commission (MRC) of its plans for the canal, but Vietnam wants more information about the project.
Phnom Penh argues that the project affects only a Mekong tributary and therefore requires only the notification it has already submitted.
The canal, one of former prime minister Hun Sun’s signature infrastructure projects, is seen as a galvanising national undertaking to build support for his successor and son.
Hun Sen has described the canal as giving the country a “nose to breathe through”.
The government says the project will offer an alternative for container ships that currently cross into Vietnam before heading to the sea, allowing Cambodia to keep transport revenue in- country.
It says it is planning riverside economic zones along the route that it says could create tens of thousands of jobs for the country, which is among the poorest in South-East Asia.
Villagers living along the projected route of the canal, however, spoke about their anguish at having their homes expropriated as construction gets underway.
Some who live near the canal said they were not invited to join yesterday’s launch, saying they watched it from home with mixed feelings.
“We feel both happy and worried because we have not been informed about the compensation,” said a 51-year woman who asked not to be named.
“We are asking for appropriate compensation. People told us that when there are developments, there are tears, so we are worried about that.”
Rights activists in the country point to a pattern of expropriation for infrastructure projects that has left people struggling to relocate with minimal compensation. — AFP
