A CAMBODIAN delegation will travel to Japan in November to select a construction company to build the Neak Loeung Bridge, on which work is to begin early next year, according to a government official.

“Cambodian representatives are going to submit a tender to select a construction company in November, and we hope that we will start construction in early 2011,” Kim Borey, Ministry of Public Works and Transportation director general, said yesterday.

Neak Loeung Bridge in Kandal province is slated to be the longest and most expensive bridge in Cambodia on its completion, scheduled for 2015.

The Kingdom received US$131 million in Official Development Assistance grant aid from Japan on June 23 at a ceremony attended by Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong and Japanese Ambassador to Cambodia Kuroki Masafumi.

The ministry also signed a memorandum of understanding on August 18 with Chodai Company and Oriental Consultant Company to serve as technical advisers on the project, he said.

The bridge will span the Mekong River between Phnom Penh and the Vietnamese border, which is presently crossed via ferries.