Elephant Steps
Cambodia's National Road No. 6
Cambodia’s new highways are being rolled out quickly – and may have a profound impact on regional trade in S.E. Asia. Refurbished highways between Phnom Penh and Thailand were opened December 28, and are only a small part of the tremendous road building going on in Cambodia. Ten projects, totaling 730 miles, are currently underway and at least another eleven projects are in the pipeline. Good business for those who can get there.
Prime Minister Hun Sen calls these roads “elephant steps, not mouse steps” in terms of their speed and their potential impact on his country. Clearly, the roads will benefit tourism, making it easier to visit sites such as Angkor Wat from Bangkok. Cambodia will make money out of day-trippers from Thailand, plus the roads will encourage more tourists to stay in Cambodia to see sites that have been unreachable from Thailand.
The new roads are already easing logistics and spurring trade, linking Cambodia to the highway systems of its neighbors. Thai firms are already pushing everything from construction materials to instant noodles into Cambodia. Japanese companies are using the new routes to link operations in Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City.
The competition to build Cambodia’s new highways is intense, reports the New York Times. The Asian Development Bank is financing some of the roads, while China is building others. The new road to the Thai border was built by a Thai company using ADB funds. Mr. Hun Sen has commented how the Chinese build more quickly than do the companies doing the ADB projects. I wonder what he will say when the maintenance bills come in.
