Source: AFP
Everything in Lim Thong Eng’s garden is covered in dust – dust kicked up by excavators working next to him to widen a waterway that the Cambodian government hopes will soon become a major ship canal.
Cambodia is set to officially begin construction next month on the Phnan-Techho Canal, a $1.7 billion project that will link the Mekong River to Cambodian ports on the Gulf of Thailand, providing an alternative to shipping via Vietnam.
It is one of former prime minister Hun Sun’s signature infrastructure projects and is seen as a national effort to shore up support for his successor, his son Hun Manet.
But the plan is shrouded in uncertainty, including whether its primary purpose will be shipping or irrigation, who will fund it and how it will affect the flow of one of the world’s longest rivers, the Mekong.
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The uncertainty is distressing for people along the planned route, which begins about an hour’s drive southeast of Phnom Penh.
Eng, a 74-year-old retired farmer who now uses a wheelchair, faces losing his home and land when the canal is built and has no idea what kind of compensation he will receive.
Source: AFP
“We are shocked but also terrified,” he told AFP, as excavators rumbled nearby.
“We don’t know what the government is thinking because we don’t have the information.”
Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than three decades, has said the canal will give the country a “breathing nose”, and local authorities have been instructed to mark the groundbreaking with fireworks on August 5, the former leader’s birthday.
The government says the canal will generate economic activity worth 21-30 percent of its construction costs and create tens of thousands of jobs in one of Southeast Asia’s poorest countries, but it has not provided details to support those estimates.
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“There are a lot of unknowns.”
Source: AFP
The profitability of the canal may depend on how it is funded.
Last year, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), a Chinese construction giant that has funded other infrastructure developments in Cambodia, agreed to conduct a feasibility study on the project.
Cambodian officials have suggested Chinese state-run companies could partly fund the canal’s construction, but the CRBC has not made its findings public or made any public commitments.
The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Cambodia is a close ally of Beijing but Prime Minister Hun Sen has denied the canal will be part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure plans.
Analysts have also questioned the $1.7 billion price tag.
“There are a lot of unknowns and uncertainties about the actual economic benefits and costs,” said Vanarith Cheang, a political analyst and chairman of Angkor Social Innovation Park.
There are also concerns about the flow of the Mekong River, which accounts for a quarter of the world’s freshwater fish catch and 50 percent of Vietnam’s rice production.
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Source: AFP
Conservationists have long warned that the river is threatened by infrastructure projects, pollution, sand mining and climate change.
Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand are signatories to the 1995 Mekong River Agreement, which provides for the sharing of the river’s wealth.
However, while Cambodia has notified the Mekong River Commission (MRC) of its plans to build the canal, Vietnam is seeking more information.
Phnom Penh argues that the project only affects a tributary of the Mekong River and therefore only requires the notification it has already submitted.
Some experts disagree, pointing out that the canal outside Eng’s home has a direct connection to the mainstream Mekong and that Cambodian authorities are increasingly promoting the canal’s irrigation benefits.
“You’d need agreement, especially among the four member states,” to irrigate from the mainstream during the dry season, said Brian Eyler, a Mekong expert at the Stimson Center.
‘Straw’
The MRC said it had “not received any reports of water flow” and was “requesting and waiting for further information from Cambodia.”
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Source: AFP
Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister San Chanthol, who is spearheading the project, likened the canal to a “straw.”
“How much water can you suck up from the Mekong with a straw?” he told The Straits Times last month.
An impact study found that the canal would affect just 0.06 per cent of the river’s dry season runoff, he added.
The study has not been published.
“The environmental and social impacts to Cambodia and Vietnam are potentially small,” Eyler said.
“But we don’t know enough about the project at this point to make that judgment.”
Cambodian officials have also denied that the canal could be used by Chinese warships, and analysts largely agree that the waterway is not attractive for that purpose given land and sea alternatives.
The project’s main significance lies in its political value, Vanaris said.
“This is a heritage project with purely political and historical importance,” he said.
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“The government will get away with it by any means, at any cost. They have something to prove.”
Source: AFP