THE
ROAD TO ANGKOR WAT
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Thai-built road status unclear
- Khmer Intelligence, April 25, 2003
KhmerIntelligence.org reports:
On 4 March 2003, the Bangkok Post reported: "Thai soldiers
have finished building a 153 km road from [Cham Yeam border checkpoint,
Bak Khlong commune, in] Koh Kong, a Cambodian province opposite Thailand's
Trat province, to Sre Ambel [a small city port linked to Road number
4 from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville]. Lt-Gen Thanadet Pathumrat, head
of the [Thai] army's engineering department, will today hand over
the road to Gen Tea Banh, Cambodia's defence minister. The road was
built under a two-year project co-financed by Thailand and Cambodia."
The legal status of the road and the precise arrangement for its financing
remain unclear: BOT, or loan with or without a grant component from
the Thai side? In any case, the elected representatives of the people
have not been consulted, which is a violation of the (Cambodian)
Constitution that requires that any financial commitment by the Government
be approved by the National Assembly. In Koh Kong province, the road
is presented by the authorities as a donation
from Thailand, but local residents are upset because they have to
pay a heavy toll for the use of a Thai-built bridge from Bak Khlong
commune to Dang Tung commune. There's also further mention of
the corruption in Cambodian road building: For any given project,
the price paid by the State has reportedly been inflated up to five
times the price that would have been derived from a fair competition
between private companies. In addition, the quality of the works is
very poor, with no proper technical supervision and control, as evidenced
by the frequent repair works that need to be conducted on the above-mentioned
roads: once every three to six months...
The open road
Gordon Sharpless, on the scene in Cambodia, maintains
this
page on the latest travel condtions overland from Thailand to
Siem Reap.
Road Damage
to Siem Reap from Poipet
October 16, 2002, http://cambodia-travel.com
Due to heavy rainfall during the past weeks, several parts of the
road between Siem Reap and Poipet are heavily damaged with big pots
and holes. Hundreds of big cargo trucks as well as the military ones
got struck along the road in the past few days now. The major damage
appears to be at about 40 km from Sisophon on the way to Siem Reap.
It may takes weeks before the road repair could be completed, so travelers
are advised to take on another mode of transportation, such as the
plane, during this time as to avoid the great inconvenience.
Road
construction 60% finished
Gordon Sharpless
is reporting in this Cambodia
Today newslatter: The Thai Army is constructing
a highway - a real highway - that will connect Phnom Penh to Thailand
on a southern route (Trat province in Thailand, Koh Kong in Cambodia).
As of mid-January nearly 60% of the road is almost finished except
for the paving. There's one stretch of thirty kilometers that has
only been surveyed and packed and widened enough to facilitate getting
trucks through, and there's one eighteen-kilometer stretch they haven't
touched at all, but the progress has otherwise been tremendous....When
this highway is finished it's going to be a major boon to the economy
of southwest Cambodia and to the ease of transport between Phnom Penh
and Thailand. Read
the whole newsletter here.
"Poipet
to Siem Reap in 2.5 Hours!!!"
Gordon Sharpless
is reporting on this Cambodia
Today website that the new road improvements from Thailand to
Siem Reap are creating some astonishingly short trip times. It seems
that the storied days of nearly impassable roads are over.
Sharpless lives
in Siem Reap and writes a monthly
column on the latest things going on around there. There are just
three columns so far, but they are a sorely needed source of info
for the area. We hope he continues writing them!
News of the road
situation is detailed in his August,
September,
and October
2001 columns.
Angkor.com
exclusive-> What's the status of the road rehab project to
link the Angkor area to the Thai border?
March 21, 2001- from Dr. Manaspas Xuto at the Thai
Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
"According to the information I now have, the Cambodian
Government, in May 2000, gave the concession to PMC-ITI Development
to develop the 154-kilometre long road from Poipet to Siem Reap,
involving Highway 5A from Poipet to Sisophon and Highway 6 from
Sisophon to Siem Reap. In November 2000, Cambodian press reported
that PMC-ITI signed a sub-contract agreement with Kamol K. Construction
Company of Thailand to do the job. The latest report was that
in March 2001, the Cambodian Government announced the cancellation
of the concession earlier given to PMC-ITI Development due to
its failure to live up to the terms of the concession. As of now,
several private contractors in Cambodia are bidding for the contract
to build the said road. The respective offers of the bidders are
being reviewed by the Cambodian Government." |
Cambodia
wants Hawaii's help
Pacific
Business News, August 31, 2001
Just a sort mention of Cambodian chief economic minister Suos Someth's
trip to Hawaii to invite local contractors to help rebuild Cambodia's
infrastructure.
[A funny sidenote is that this site, Pacific
Business News, wants people to pay $5.00 US to link to their articles.
That's right, just to link. And in the small print is a notice that
they do not even guarantee the link will not change or disappear entirely.
Sorry, guys, there's no legal way to stop people linking to you...]
Cambodia asks for Thai soldiers to help build a road to Angkor Wat
July 30, 2001, excerpted from the Bangkok Post,
July 30, 2001, by Wassana Nanuam
The Bangkok Post reports that Hun Sen asked
for Thai Army help in building a road to Angkor Wat. Although the article
is entitled "Road to Angkor Wat will be built by Thai soldiers,"
the article itself merely says Cambodia asked for help and Thais said
Cambodia must pay for the construction. As far as we can determine,
there is nothing definite.
...Hun
Sen asked the Thai army to help repair the road from Poipet, opposite
Aranyaprathet, to Sisophon and also help build a new one from Battambang
to Siem Reap. ....Cambodia has also asked Thailand to build a road from
Chong Chom pass in Surin to O Smach in Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province
to link with a road leading to Poipet and Aranyaprathet. A road toll
will be imposed on tourists once it is completed.
The Thai army's engineering corps are presently engaged in construction
of a 159-km-long road from Koh Kong province to Sa-ae Rampil inside
Cambodia. Thailand has contributed 200 million baht to its construction.
The Cambodian premier also wants Thailand to supply electricity to O
Smach from Surin, to Poipet from Aranyaprathet, and to Hat Lek from
Chanthaburi....
Hun
Sen blasts slow road builder
Phnom Penh Daily, May 26, 2001
Angkor
Wat fast track
Tim
McIntyre, excerpted from http://www.travel-asia.com/
....Apart
from airlinks, one way this target can be reached is undoubtedly through
increased land access. To this end, significant and expensive efforts
are being made to improve land links with its neighbour to the west.
Of the millions of dollars being pumped into road construction, the
most noteworthy is undoubtedly the stretch of highway linking Angkor
Wat with Thailand. This project is being jointly developed with the
Thais.
At the recently
concluded tourism workshop in Chiangmai chaired by Thai prime minister
Thaksin, Sereyvuth said the framework for integrating the whole region
had been laid out. “Thailand has set aside over US$20 million for
the road project into Angkor Wat,” Sereyvuth revealed, adding that
the 54 km stretch of road linking Thailand with the Cambodian destination
had remained closed for over 30 years. Factoring the over 20 million
Thais living within the four provinces bordering Cambodia, he added:
“With 10 million tourists in Thailand and a two to three hour road
journey into Cambodia, the potential for business is huge.”
Commenting on significant
steps being made by Cambodia to integrate itself into the Asean tourism
framework, Silkair’s Menon noted: “Cambodia is ushering a
renaissance in international tourism in Asia.” Certainly a new
age in revenue generation is being ushered in as well. According to
Menon, bilateral trade between Cambodia and Singapore was valued at
almost S$854 million last year.
Border
Roads Thailand - Cambodia Project
April 27, 2001, http://www.cambodia-travel.com/news/apr002.htm
Cambodia and Thailand
are discussing on a project to repair the road from Poipet to Siem Reap.
Currently the overland
route from Poipet of Thailand to Siem Reap of Cambodia is very tough
due to damaged road and bridges. It can take from 10-16 hours ride for
the distance of 150 km. This significantly hampers the tourist arrival
by land.
The project will
cost US$ 22 million for the 154 km distance. The deal from Poipet-Sisophon
segment has been reached, but the Thai side is waiting for the proposal
of the Cambodian side on the Sisophon-Siem Reap segment. Both countries
will benefit from an increase in tourist traffic as the road enhance
a cheaper to travel from Thailand to Siem Reap which houses the renowned
Angkor Wat.
Road to
Angkor Wat
Bangkok
Post, April 22, 2001 Nondhanada Intarakomalyasut
The
road from the border to Angkor Wat will be ugraded at a cost of one
billion baht, as part of an effort to make Thailand a gateway to the
ancient Cambodian city. The cost of the 200km link from Poipet, across
the border from Aranyaprathet, to the ruins township of Siem Reap will
be met by the Transport and Communications Ministry, or through a loan
from the Asian Development Bank or a third country, Deputy Prime Minister
Pitak Intrawithayanunt said. It
would mean a high quality road all the way from Nakhon Ratchasima to
Angkor Wat, benefitting tourism and freight services. The Cambodian
government was in agreement, he said. Other planned joint projects include
renovation of the road to the ancient Khmer temple on Phra Viharn hill,
on the border.
Webmaster
Article on Angkor Development
The webmaster of angkor.com wrote a short
article highlighting development around the Angkor Wat area. The English
version is here.
The
Road to Siem Reap
February 3, 2000 - Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan traveled to
Siem Reap to sign an agreement with the Cambodian government to reconstruct
the road from the Thai border at Poipet to Siem Reap with a loan from
the World Bank. This first stage should be completed in 2003 and turn
the present overland, 10 hour trip to a 1 1/2 hour trip. The road is
the first part of a highway that will eventually link Bangkok to Ho
Chi Mihn City via Phnom Pen.
Links
Bilder
von Cambodia: Siem Reap - page of photos showing the road conditions
outside of Siem Reap
World
Bank press release about the Siem Reap road rehabilitation
Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan for Siem
Reap Airport Project
Road
Rehabilitation Project - interesting document detailing the project
(but the site is very, very slow). The last 2-3 pages have interesting
(but grainy) xeroxed pictures of the rutted roads that will be fixed and
a map. To see these, do the following:
1. Click on the Project Appraisal Document (PAD)
2. Click on "Cambodia - Road Rehabilitation Project (Vol.1)"
(this is the third document on the list)
3. After a moment an abstract will open in the bottom part
of the window.
4. In the bar in the center of the window is a book icon.
Click on this to see the document. Pages 44-46 have xeroxed photos of
the existing road and project maps.
For more road
news, see The
IndoChina Highway |
