Chinese Firm Makes Proposal To Connect Capital's Port To Railway

 Transportation Minister Sun Chanthol met on Sunday with a representative of China Railway 16th Bureau Group—a railway construction constructor— to discuss a $250 million project proposal to link the container terminal of Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) to the Southern Railway Line. 

According to government officials, the Chinese proposal includes laying 42 kilometers of fresh railways starting at a point on the Southern Line located 22 kilometers south of the capital. Cham Samleng, director of the railway department at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) said that while the linkage would allow the port's LM 17 container terminal—located about 30 kilometres south of Phnom Penh on the Mekong River—to handle an increased volume of heavy containers, its necessity had yet to be assessed. 

"What we need to study is the amount of goods that could actually be transported on this line," he said, adding that "if we see the need for this project, we will consider it." With the government finally making an effort to develop the Kingdom's nascent rail infrastructure, design proposals, such as the one put on the table by China Railway 16th Bureau Group, have been flooding in. 

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