Cambodia is pressing ahead with a canal that will cut its reliance on Vietnamese ports. The 180 km Funan Techo Canal has Chinese backing and will connect Phnom Penh Autonomous Port with Kep and the Gulf of Thailand (see map below).
The $1.7bn canal would begin at the Takeo Canal of the Mekong River, pass through the Ta Ek Canal of the Bassac River and finally merge with the Ta Hing Canal of the Bassac River in Koh Thom district. It would connect Phnom Penh directly with the country’s only deepsea port in Sihanoukville and a new port in Kampot.
The current plan includes constructing three dams with sluices and 11 bridges. The canal will be 100 m wide and 5.4 m deep, supporting vessels up to 3,000 dwt. With both the government and the opposition supporting the project, construction is set to get underway soon with an aim to have the project complete by 2028.Â
The canal project has been attacked by conservationists and officials in Vietnam, concerned about the effects it will have on the Mekong Delta.Â
Major infrastructure projects shifting seaborne trades in Southeast Asia have been making headlines of late. Thailand, for instance, has dusted off plans for a transport link that would allow ships to skip the Malacca Strait, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.Â
The Southeast Asian kingdom has long touted the construction of the Kra Canal, a waterway across a narrow part of the country in the far south.Â
While this extraordinarily expensive infrastructure project has been shelved, Thailand’s prime minister is keen to develop a landbridge in the same area – the Kra isthmus – with ports at either side.
The 100 km landbridge project would cost $28bn and would feature highways and rail networks with deepsea container ports in Ranong in the Andaman Sea and Chumphon in the Gulf of Thailand.Â