The completion for the improvement project of National Road 3 linking Phnom Penh to Kampot province has now reached 74 percent completion. The work started in May 2018.
Sun Chanthol, minister of public works and transport, who has inspected the quality of the road construction onsite, said its quality follows acceptable standards.
“The NR3 has followed the ministry’s guidelines in terms of quality, technical issues and durability,” said Chanthol.
“I always check the quality for every road construction without giving contractors advance notice and we find some contractors do not follow standards, lack enough equipment or machinery onsite, so we ask them to re-do the work… or end the contract,” Chanthol added.
“We continue our work to monitor the road construction, quality and other related technical issues constructed by Chinese, Korean, or Japanese companies,” Chanthol said.
The National Road 3 is 134.8 kilometres long and connects Phnom Penh to Kampot. The cost is around $219million, funded by the Royal Government’s budget and the referential buyer’s credit loan from the government of China. The project will be completed in 2022 as planned. NR3 is being constructed by China Road and Bridge Corp, with a technical adviser from Guangzhou Wanan Construction Supervision Co Ltd.
It is one of the pivotal national roads in the country because there are many industries and factories all along the road, making it an industrial corridor to the south, in addition to national road number 4, the country’s first industrial corridor. This also heads south to the country’s largest deep water port.
The original completion plan was 2022. However, because the construction has been smooth and consistent.
Chanthol also checked traffic safety signals and signs at each construction site to ensure the safety of drivers and passengers.
Traffic accidents cost Cambodia around $350million of the national budget per year and, on average, five people die in road accidents every day.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
