The banks of the Mekong River were alive with excitement and cheers as Prime Minister Hun Manet inaugurated the Fan Teco Canal project, a deep-water canal that will connect the capital Phnom Penh directly to the Gulf of Thailand. The project, originally proposed by his father Hun Sen, is seen as a major national development initiative.
Speaking at the inauguration, Hun Manet emphasized the government’s commitment to completing the $1.7 billion project.
“This is a significant national project, and I am sure that the government will do it and complete it by all means and at all costs because that is the legitimacy, especially for the new generation of leadership,” he stated.
However, questions about the project’s legitimacy and impact remain unanswered. Residents living along the 180 km route of the canal have been informed they will need to relocate but have received little information about the compensation they will receive. One resident expressed the community’s anxiety, saying,
“I feel empty inside. We are losing the place where we lived in happiness. A new location won’t be like the place we are used to.”
The project falls under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, though Prime Minister Manet recently noted that 51% of the funding will come from Cambodian firms. Neighboring countries have voiced concerns about the environmental impact of the canal.
“If they can manage the active floodplain around the canal, then the environmental and social impacts to Cambodia and to Vietnam are potentially small,” commented an environmental expert. “But we just don’t know enough about the project right now to make that judgment.”
Vietnam is particularly worried about the potential drainage of freshwater from the Mekong Delta, which could adversely affect millions of farmers and fishermen downstream.
As Cambodia embarks on this ambitious project, the balance between development and environmental sustainability remains a critical issue.