Cambodia PM launches controversial canal project

PHNOM PENH

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet on Monday launched a controversial $1.7 billion canal project that aims to provide a new link from the Mekong River to the sea.

At a launch event in Prek Takeo, southeast of the capital Phnom Penh, Manet called the 180-kilometer project "historic."

"We must build this canal at all costs," he said.

Once completed, the Funan Techo canal will run from a spot on the Mekong river to the sea in the Gulf of Thailand.

But the project comes shrouded in uncertainty, including its main purpose- whether for shipping or irrigation, who will fund it, and how it will affect the flow of the Mekong, one of the world's longest rivers.

Conservationists have long warned that the river, which supports up to a quarter of the world's freshwater fish catch and half of Vietnam's rice production, is at risk from infrastructure projects, pollution, sand mining, and climate change.

The government says the project will offer an alternative for container ships that currently cross into Vietnam before heading to the sea, allowing Cambodia to keep transport revenue in-country.

Last year, the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), a Chinese construction giant that has financed other infrastructure in Cambodia, agreed to a feasibility study of the project.

Cambodian officials have suggested the Chinese state-owned company could finance part of the canal, but CRBC has not released its study or made any public commitment.