Minister of Public Works and Transport Sun Chanthol has confirmed the continuation of significant infrastructure projects in Cambodia, expressing that the construction of the Funan-Techo canal and a 400km expressway will proceed.

The Phnom Penh-Siem Reap-Poipet expressway will endure under the new government, he said while inspecting a collapsed road section in Mondulkiri province’s Oreang district on August 8.

“The Funan-Techo canal and the expressway are national projects. If I leave office, these important national projects will remain underway,” he said, alluding to a new ministry leadership when the new government is sworn in later this month.

“This work has its phase. First, we must send a notice to the Cambodia National Mekong Committee so it forwards this document to the Mekong River Commission [MRC] to inform that Cambodia will use the tributary in this canal project,” he noted.

Chanthol also reassured that the projects, having been approved in May of this year, will still be progressing under the new government.

“These projects are very important for our motherland. I believe that the seventh-mandate government will advance these projects. I also believe that other major projects will continue to move forward as it is not an individual project but that of the government,” he said.

An inter-ministerial commission has been set up by the government, with 37 officials involved, to oversee the Funan-Techo canal.

The commission was signed into action by outgoing Prime Minister Hun Sen on June 7 and was created to review and advise on procedures, legal frameworks and, assess economic efficiency to boost the development of Cambodia’s waterway and sea transport sector.

Regarding the construction of the expressway, an agreement was reached in June, setting the budget at approximately $4 billion.