Canal Developments
Laos supports Funan Techo Canal, Vietnam says Funan Techo Canal might reduce water flow to Hậu River, Hun Manet set on Funan Techo Canal, Blue Economy
Laos supports Funan Techo Canal
By Khmer Times
Cambodia’s efforts to construct the 180-km-long Funan Techo Canal received support from Laos at a critical juncture. Laos President Thongloun Sisoulith, who was on a visit to Cambodia, conveyed the support to Senate President Hun Sen on Tuesday.
According to a statement, Mr Hun Sen raised the canal project while holding talks with Sisoulith at the Senate Palace in Phnom Penh, during the latter’s two-day state visit to Cambodia.
The Cambodian Senate President affirmed that the project will not affect the environment or the water flow. It will link the Bassac River to the sea.
The inland waterway, stretching from the Takeo Canal of the Mekong River to the coastal province of Kep, is 100 metres wide upstream and 80 metres downstream, with a depth of 5.4 metres (a navigation depth of 4.7 metres and a safety gap of 0.7 metres).
The project will build three waterway dams, 11 bridges, a 208-kilometre sidewalk, and provide navigation assistance and other cross-river infrastructure.
The construction for the canal will begin by the end of 2024 and is expected to take around four years to complete with an estimated cost of $1.7 billion.
The canal will cross four provinces – Kandal, Takeo, Kampot and Kep with a total of 1.6 million people living on either side of the waterway. The waterway is expected to boost the Cambodian economy while it could also improve the social conditions of the people.
When the project was announced earlier, Vietnam expressed concern over the canal’s impacts on the Mekong River. However, the Cambodian government has clarified that the canal will have no adverse environmental or ecological impacts.
In December last year, Prime Minister Hun Manet himself, during a visit to Vietnam, reassured Vietnamese leaders that the project would not impact the Mekong River water system.
Meanwhile, at the meeting on Tuesday, Mr Hun Sen and Mr Sisoulith exchanged views on various agendas as both leaders are old friends and they were both former Prime Ministers of their respective countries.
Mr Sisoulith said this visit will further strengthen the relationship between the two neighbouring nations and their peoples. With Mr Hun Sen as the President of the Senate, he believed that the relationship between both countries’ legislative bodies would remain strong.
On his part, Mr Hun Sen lauded the good relations between the two countries and peoples as well as between the Cambodian People’s Party and the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party.
Mr Hun Sen also briefed his guest on Cambodia’s current development, particularly key achievements in the past eight months under the leadership of the new Royal Government.
Read more here.
By Vietnam News Service
Cambodia’s upcoming Funan Techo Canal might draw up to 30 per cent of the water flowing into the Hậu River in the Mekong Delta, leading to severe saltwater intrusion in the downriver area, experts told a meeting held on April 23 in Cần Thơ City.
CẦN THƠ – The Funan Techo Canal Cambodia is building might use up to 30 per cent of the water flowing into the upstream of the Hậu River, which in turn is likely to worsen the saltwater intrusion in its downstream in the Mekong Delta, experts warned at a consultation meeting held in Cần Thơ City yesterday.
The canal will draw water from the Hậu River, a distributary of the Mekong River, which raises concerns among officials, international organisations and scientists about its trans-national impacts.
The 180-kilometre canal will transfer water from the Hậu River to Kep port located outside the basin, which will significantly reduce water flow to the Mekong Delta, experts told the meeting.
Besides, the canal could take up to 150m3/s if used for agricultural, industrial and service purposes, or 30 per cent of the water flow into the Hậu River in the dry season.
The lack of water in the Hậu could lead to soil erosion in An Giang Province's Châu Đốc City and nearby Châu Phú District, Assoc Prof Dr Lê Anh Tuấn of the Research Institute for Climate Change said.
Besides, the canal might use up 2 per cent of the water flow into the Mekong Delta if its three sluices are constantly opened for transportation, a report by the Southern Institute of Water Resources Research, a Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development agency, said.
Tuấn said severe saltwater intrusion could occur in the downriver area, also impacting the biodiversity of the delta.
Director General of the Việt Nam National Mekong Committee, Nguyễn Thị Thu Linh, said the committee, the ministry, the Mekong River Commission Secretariat, Cambodia, and other committee member countries would work together to accelerate research on the project's impacts, propose mitigation measures, monitor impacts, and organise consultation activities.
Work on the US$1.7 billion canal is expected to begin this year and be completed in 2028.
It is designed to provide more waterways to southwestern Cambodia so that its water transportation becomes less dependent on the Mekong River that flows into Việt Nam.
The canal will also supply water for over 300,000 hectares of crops in Kandal and Kampot provinces. – VNS
Read more here.
Hun Manet set on Funan Techo Canal
By Sok Sereyrath
Prime Minister Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet has reaffirmed the importance of Funan Techo Canal project, in reaction to some criticism against this project.
During his inspection visit to the construction site of Techo International Airport in Kandal province this morning, Samdech Thipadei Hun Manet said the Funan Techo Canal project will provide high potential for the national development.
“It will provide benefit for some 1.6 million people along the canal and generate many other benefits for the national development,” the Premier stressed.
Samdech Thipadei Prime Minister said this new project will link the river system to the sea route under the BOT (build-operate-transfer) contract.
The Funan Techo Canal project has been carefully studied by experts for the benefits of the nation, added Samdech Thipadei, reiterating the Royal Government’s commitment to building the canal to expand the waterway transport, which is more profitable for the economy.
According to the project’s feasibility study which has already been completed, the construction of this waterway of 180 kilometres long and 100 metres wide upstream and 80 metres downstream with two navigation lanes would be launched at the end of 2024, take around four years to complete, and cost some US$1.7 billion.
The canal will link Prek Takeo of Mekong River to the sea in Kep province crossing four provinces: Kandal, Takeo, Kampot and Kep with a total of 1.6 million people living on either side of the waterway.
Read more here.
