Cambodia looks to ‘breathe’ with controversial new canal

By AFP
July 17, 2024


Workers use excavators to dig the Funan Techo canal, a $1.7 billion project that will run from the Mekong river to the Gulf of Thailand - Copyright AFP Suy SE
Suy SE, Sara HUSSEIN

Dust covers everything in Lim Tong Eng’s yard, thrown up by excavators toiling next door to enlarge a channel that Cambodia’s government hopes will soon be a major shipping canal.

Next month, Cambodia will officially break ground on the Funan Techo canal, a $1.7 billion project running from the Mekong river to a Cambodian port on the Gulf of Thailand that will offer an alternative to transit via Vietnam.

It is one of former prime minister Hun Sun’s signature infrastructure projects and is seen as a galvanising national undertaking to build support for his successor and son, Hun Manet.

But uncertainty surrounds the plan, from whether its main goal is shipping or irrigation, to who will finance it and how it will affect the flow of the Mekong, one of the world’s longest rivers.

The lack of clarity is agonising for those along the projected route, which begins around an hour’s drive southeast of Phnom Penh.

Eng, a 74-year-old retired farmer who now uses a wheelchair, will lose his home and land to the canal but has no idea what compensation he might receive.

“We feel not only surprised but also fearful,” he told AFP as diggers clanked nearby.

“We don’t know what the government is thinking because we haven’t been informed.”

Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia for over three decades, has described the canal as giving the country a “nose to breathe through” and local authorities have been told to launch fireworks for the groundbreaking on August 5 — the former leader’s birthday.

The government says the canal will generate economic activity worth 21-30 percent more than its cost and create tens of thousands of jobs in a country that is among the poorest in Southeast Asia, though it has not provided detailed evidence for those forecasts.

– ‘Lot of unknowns’ –

The canal’s benefits may depend on how it is financed.

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.

The firm did not respond to a request for comment.

And while Cambodia is a close ally of Beijing, Hun Sen has denied the canal will be part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure plan.

Analysts have also questioned the $1.7 billion price tag.

There are “a lot of unknowns here and uncertainties here with regards to the real economic benefits and costs,” said Vannarith Chheang, a political analyst and chairman of the Angkor Social Innovation Park.

There are also concerns about the flow of the Mekong, which accounts for up to a quarter of the world’s freshwater fish catch and 50 percent of Vietnam’s rice production.

Conservationists have long warned that the river is threatened by infrastructure projects, pollution, sand mining and climate change.

Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand are signatories to the 1995 Mekong River agreement, which governs distribution of the river’s wealth.

But while Cambodia has notified the Mekong River Commission (MRC) of its plans for the canal, Vietnam wants more information.

Phnom Penh argues the project affects only a Mekong tributary and therefore requires only the notification it has already submitted.

That is contested by some experts, who note the channel outside Eng’s house links directly to the Mekong mainstream, and that Cambodian officials increasingly tout the canal’s irrigation benefits.

Irrigation from the mainstream during the dry season “specifically requires an agreement from the four member countries,” said Brian Eyler, a Mekong expert at the Stimson Center think tank.

– ‘A straw’ –

The MRC said it has not received “any reports on water flow” and it “is requesting and awaiting additional information from Cambodia”.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol, who is spearheading the project, compared the canal to “a straw”.

“How much water can you suck from the Mekong River with a straw?” he told the Straits Times last month.

An impact study found the canal would affect just 0.06 percent of the river’s dry season outflow, he added.

The study has not been made public.

“It’s possible that the environmental and social impacts to Cambodia and to Vietnam are potentially small,” Eyler said.

“But we just don’t know enough about the project right now to make that judgement.”

Cambodian officials have also denied the canal could be used by Chinese warships, and analysts largely agree the waterway would be unattractive for that purpose given land and sea alternatives.

The project’s main significance is its political value, said Vannarith.

“This is purely a legacy project, with political, historical significance attached to it,” he said.

“The government will do it and complete it by all means, at all costs… they have to prove something.”

‘I feel empty’: Cambodians on canal route await fate


By AFP 

July 17, 2024


Sok Rom, a 56-year-old widow, told AFP she struggles to sleep due to worries over where she will live after making way for the new Funan Techo canal - Copyright AFP TANG CHHIN Sothy

Suy SE, Sara HUSSEIN

Food stand owner Dem Mech wells up as he sits in the yard of the home he will lose if Cambodia proceeds with a massive new canal running from the Mekong river to the sea.

“I won’t challenge the government, but what I want is decent compensation,” the wiry 57-year-old told AFP, seated in the shade of the house he shares with eight relatives.

“We don’t have any official information. We have only heard about it from social media.”

Mech is one of thousands of Cambodians living along the projected route of the $1.7 billion Funan Techo canal — an ambitious infrastructure project the government says will offer vast economic benefits.

The waterway will run 180 kilometres (110 miles) from the Mekong to the Gulf of Thailand, travelling part of the way along the Bassac river.

It will offer an alternative for container ships that currently cross into Vietnam before heading to the sea, and allow Cambodia to keep transport revenue in-country.

The government plans riverside economic zones along the route that it says could create tens of thousands of jobs.

That could be a key boost for an economy struggling to recover its pre-pandemic growth rate.

But it is little consolation to Mech.

“If the compensation is tiny, I will move out with tears,” he said.

“There is nothing we can do but cry. The villagers cannot stand up against them.”

His sentiments are echoed along the projected canal route, where the excavation rattles the homes of those who live there.

Many who spoke to AFP declined to be named for fear of official backlash.


– ‘Equitable compensation’ –


Lim Tong Eng’s home abuts a channel leading from the Mekong that is already being widened.

On August 5, a groundbreaking ceremony will be held on the opposite bank, with the government urging temples to ring bells in celebration.

The 74-year-old retired farmer will not participate. He is still waiting to learn when he will have to leave and what compensation he might get for his home and farmland.

“From the time I was young until this age, this is all I have acquired. But now it is over,” he told AFP.

Infrastructure projects the world over often involve expropriation, and Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol has promised that “community voices will be heard and their welfare prioritised”.

Writing in the Nikkei Asia in May, he promised “participatory planning and equitable compensation”.

There are also signs that the project has support among at least part of the population, with analysts saying it is intended as a unifying national project that evokes Cambodia’s historical standing in the region.

Rights activists however point to a pattern of expropriation for infrastructure projects that has left people struggling to relocate with minimal compensation.

Despite government promises, citizens have little recourse, said Am Sam Ath, operations director at rights group LICADHO.

While the constitution allows legal challenges, “in Cambodia, when it comes to courts, the lawsuits against authorities and the state, the possibility of winning is so minimal”.

Some experts said the government may be delaying an announcement on compensation to stop speculative land purchases along the route.

But local residents say landlords nearby have already raised their prices, anticipating an influx of displaced buyers.

Sok Rom, a 56-year-old widow, said she struggles to sleep with worry about where she will go.

“I feel empty inside. We are losing the place where we lived in happiness.”