The Kingdom has settled on a route for a planned $2.5 billion high-speed toll road from Phnom Penh to the Vietnamese border in Bavet, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency revealed in a seminar yesterday.

The preferred route will go through Prey Veng and Svay Rieng provinces, connecting them to the capital. According to the ministry, this route has the highest development potential and would serve areas farther away from National Road 1 that have a greater need for a road. The Cambodian government made the decision in October.

“The high speed road is . . . expected to contribute much for the economic and social sectors in Cambodia and neighbouring countries,” Kumamaru Yuji, the Japanese ambassador to Cambodia, said at the seminar.

JICA first announced plans for the road in April 2014.

The government must still create a Cambodian expressway authority, settle on a detailed design, tender contracts and create a construction fund.

The size of the government’s expected contribution wasn’t immediately available.

According to Tram Iv Tek, minister of public works and transportation, the project is aimed for completion in 2033.

The new road is expected to cut travel time from Phnom Penh to Bavet from three to five hours by the current road to just two hours via the expressway.

Not including tolls, the expressway will have significantly lower trucking fees – $200 to $230 per container as opposed to $350 to $400 on the national road.

According to JICA, the expressway will tie into a master plan to link Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City with a travel time of only two and a half hours.

JICA has already confirmed the intention and willingness of Vietnam to construct an expressway from Ho Chi Minh to the Vietnamese side of the Bavet border.