Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet has rejected media reports that the Funan Techo canal project is experiencing financial problems as funding from China “dries up.”
Reuters reported last week that China’s financial contribution remained in doubt after it “expressed misgivings about the project and has not made definitive commitments on its funding.”
Beijing seems to be drastically downsizing its overseas investments as its domestic economy struggles, even in countries it considers strategic partners, such as Cambodia, the news agency reported.
Hun Manet said in his speech at an event on Saturday that there was nothing to hinder the project’s implementation, according to a video clip of the speech posted on his Facebook page.
The prime minister said at the closing ceremony of a National Assembly of Buddhist Monks that his government was “implementing the project carefully, following clear instructions to reduce impacts on the people at the grassroots level.”
Phnom Penh “has a clear master plan with several backup development partners,” Hun Manet said, turning to China’s ambassador, Wang Wenbin, who was at the event.
The canal, officially known as the Tonle Bassac Navigation Road and Logistics System Project, was proposed and approved when his father Hun Sen was prime minister, and is being publicly acclaimed as one of the veteran leader’s great legacies.
The construction of the 180-kilometer (112-mile) waterway that will connect the capital, Phnom Penh, with the Gulf of Thailand began in early August. Cambodia hopes the canal will end its dependence on Vietnamese ports to the south.
Instead of being a foreign-invested project – a Chinese state company was initially reported to be the main investor under the Belt and Road Initiative – the canal is now being built mostly with domestic funding, with Cambodian sources expected to make up a controlling 51% share of the US$1.7-billion investment needed.
Radio Free Asia has reported on questions about the viability of the project.
Little progress
More than three months after groundbreaking, there are no signs of progress across the project.
RFA Khmer reported that there was no machinery or workers at the ceremony site in Prek Takeo village, Kandal province, in late November.
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Villagers told RFA that they were worried about their relocation and compensation as they had heard little from the government.
Hun Manet said government officials “need to clearly define the procedure, review the location and address its impacts on citizens, before permitting the excavators to dig the canal.”
He added that as it is the rainy season now, the water level in the rivers and lowlands is high, making it difficult to dig.
The Ministry of Public Works and Transport also released a statement saying its technical team had completed detailed research and in-depth assessment of the project’s impact in close collaboration with relevant institutions, both Cambodian and international.
The ministry accused media outlets of “spreading false and unfounded information with the intention of undermining the construction process.”
Seng Vanly, a Cambodian political analyst, told RFA Khmer that the government should not accuse the media of inciting discontent but should instead expedite the construction of the project as soon as possible to maintain its image.
Edited by Mike Firn.