Cambodia and Vietnam are seeking to jointly establish a Single Window Inspection facility at the Bavet-Moc Bai Border Gate to ease traffic congestion and the flow of goods between the two nations.
En route to a bilateral meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday, Public Works and Transport Minister Sun Chanthol and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Van The led an inter-ministerial delegation to observe a traffic jam along National Road 1 as drivers attempted to pass through the gate.
At the meeting, both sides agreed to several solutions to ease the situation. This included a detailed study of the establishment of a Single Window Inspection facility, widening lanes, expanding operational hours from 6am to 10pm, and raising the quota of lorries processed from 500 to 800 per day.
“Currently, the Vietnamese side has about 50ha [on their territory] that can accommodate a Single Window Inspection area,” Chanthol said, adding that the Council for the Development of Cambodia leaders had expressed concern regarding freight travelling through the checkpoint.
“The establishment of the Single Window Inspection is also in line with the spirit of the Greater Mekong Sub-region and the Asean vision to have a shared monitoring area to aid regional investors in cross-border trade,” he said.
Ministry of Public Works and Transport spokesman Vasim Sorya told The Post on Saturday that follow-up meetings were planned to “discuss the initiative in detail later”.
Sorya said Vietnam will submit the draft and strategic plan to Cambodia ahead of starting work on the facility so that inter-ministerial and relevant stakeholders can consult on it before seeking final approval from the government.
Cambodia Freight Forwarders Association president Sin Chanthy told The Post that the private sector had long sought the assistance of officials to alleviate the congestion at the border gate as lorries were forced to unload their goods on roads for inspection due to a lack of facilities.
“We don’t only want to build a Single Window Inspection area but also a larger space that will allow for more trucks to park.
“Due to the lack of clear checkpoints and transfer locations, container lorries are sometimes delayed by one or two nights when crossing the border,” Chanthy said, adding that 300 to 400 container lorries passed through Bavet-Moc Bai International Border Gate each day,” he said.
