Cambodia’s deputy prime minister on Thursday defended an ambitious canal project that has drawn the ire of neighbouring Vietnam, describing it as a game-changer for regional trade.
The $1.7 billion Chinese-funded waterway would link Phnom Penh directly to Cambodian ports on the Gulf of Thailand, bypassing Vietnam. Hanoi has pressed Cambodia to provide more information about the canal, including its potential environmental impact, amid concerns that it will divert vital water resources from its territory.
“The concerns are unfounded,” Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol told the annual Future of Asia forum in Tokyo, organised by Nikkei Asia. “The Vietnamese government has not objected to this project,” he said, arguing that those questioning the plan were mostly think tanks and researchers.
Sun Chanthol insisted that the canal would take only “0.05%” of the Mekong’s water and would not have a major impact on downstream agricultural areas.
On the contrary, he said, the canal would help reduce the risk of flash floods in both Cambodia and Vietnam, while cutting transport distances and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
Cambodia, which has been plagued by civil war for many years, formed a new government after elections last year, and the new government has said its priority is economic growth.
“Cambodia aims to achieve upper-middle-income status by 2030 and high-income status by 2050,” Sun Chanthol said, adding that the country had achieved an average economic growth rate of 7 per cent in the 20 years before the outbreak of Covid-19.
