Transport and shipping policy and administration

Transport policy is driven by many policy documents and policy areas. The National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) of 2019-2023 is an overarching policy document for the development of Cambodia and emphasizes the priorities in the governmental policies.¹ The Comprehensive Master Plan on Cambodian Intermodal Transport and Logistics System 2023-2033 and Industrial Development Policy (IDP) are policies expressed out of the Pentagonal Strategy” which is a development policy that is the long-term plan developed by the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC). Here the importance of a good transportation system is emphasized for the sake of economic development and the need for a good transportation system in a skilled labor-intensive industrial economy.²

Aviation policy and administration

The civil aviation apparatus in Cambodia is administered by the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) whose organizational structure is governed by Law on Creation of Secretariat of Civil Aviation.³ SSCA reports to the council of ministers with Mao Havnnal being the minister responsible for the SSCA.

The SSCA has developed an air transport policy that regulates its objectives, what the SSCA administers, and how that will reach the objective. The SSCA wants to create an air service that is safe, secure, and environmentally friendly following international standards. This is hoped to also help airline companies gain confidence in using the facilities and make the Cambodian airports competitive and useful for economic development. The policy also emphasizes removing operational barriers for domestic airlines, enhancing airport infrastructure, and improving air traffic management systems as ways to develop the sector.⁴

The international airports are managed by private companies under BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) agreements and BOO (Build-Own-Operate) agreements. All the domestic airports in Cambodia are being directly managed by SSCA except Kampong Chhnang Airport which is managed by the Ministry of Defence.⁵

The main regulatory law for civil aviation is the Law on Civil Aviation of the Kingdom of Cambodia of 2008. The law ranges from safety protocol, licensing and certificates for aircraft and personnel, use of airspace and other facilities, regulations on aerodromes, liabilities, and lastly penalties for failure to comply with the regulations.⁶ The law makes references to the International Convention on Civil Aviation so-called Chicago Convention of 1944 that Cambodia signed in 1956 when it comes to the general operational procedure of the aircraft.⁷ The Chicago Convention also introduced the 5 rights of the freedom of the air, later expanded outside the scope of international treaties to 9 freedoms⁸ shown in the table below:

These freedoms are the backbone for the Open Sky Policy which is an ASEAN project to liberalize the air transportation industry of its member states by granting the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th freedom to designated airports in the region for both freight- and passenger airlines.⁹ Cambodia also has made multilateral agreements outside the ASEAN framework with the CLMV multilateral agreement on air services between gave 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th rights between Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.¹⁰ Cambodia also has 47 other agreements with other states that give similar rights.¹¹

Rail policy and administration

The railroads are regulated and administrated by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) under the Railways Department. But the actual operations of the railway both the railroads and its carriers are done by a private company called Royal Railways plc with exclusive concession until 2040. Royal Railways signed an agreement with the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) to operate the railways in 2009 originally owned by the Toll group (55%) and the Royal group (45%). In 2014 the Toll Group sold its shares to the Royal Group who have it in its subsidiary company Inter Logistics (Cambodia) Co., Ltd.¹² In 2022 Royal Railways transferred 1.0001% of its shares to Neak Oknha Kith Meng the CEO of the Royal Group.¹³ Due to budget constraints the RGC is negotiating a new concession agreement that may give the Royal Railway the responsibility for rehabilitation (upgrading and repairing) the railways.¹⁴

The railway department is also working on a regulatory framework for the railroads which is according to the department 50% completed. The projects that are under this framework are divided into 5 parts:

1. A new concession agreement with the Royal Railways.
2. Updating and enactment of the Railway Law achieved.
3. Development of railway regulations, technical standards, and operation manuals achieved.
4. Implementation of cross-border railway agreements achieved.
5. Drafted sub-decree on the Management of Level Crossing and Rights of Way of Railway (railway department).¹⁵

Road and bridge policy and administration

The different roads of Cambodia are split between different administrative units. The Expressways, National roads (NR), and Provincial roads (PR) are administered by the MPWT. The rural roads are administered by the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) and the roads inside urban centers are administered by the local sub-national administration. The bridges are all connected with their corresponding road type when it comes to administration.¹⁶

The law on roads is the main legislative act to affects road construction and regulations. It is in this law that the split responsibility of road infrastructure is found. The construction regulations can be about vehicle weighing stations (article 17), maintenance (article 16) roads inside towns need to have pedestrian streets (article 14), and many more.¹⁷ The weighing stations come from the need to regulate the overloading of transportation that has been affecting the degradation of many roads. The overload committee serves the role of helping to enforce the rules around overloading and is chaired by the Minister of MPWT.¹⁸

The other main law is the road traffic law. The law describes the different ways that drivers should conduct themselves on the road, what the signs mean, and other general rules that come with driving a vehicle.¹⁹ One of the main purposes of the road traffic law is road safety and the agency that coordinates and implements it is National Road Safety Committee (NRSC). The NRSC action plan for 2021-2030 stands on 6 pillars.

1. Strengthening road safety.
2. Strengthening law enforcement and relevant regulations.
3. Strengthening road safety education and awareness.
4. Strengthening safety road infrastructure.
5. Strengthening the effectiveness of first aid and emergency response.
6. Strengthening vehicle safety.²⁰

If these pillars can be achieved then the hope is that the fatalities that come from vehicular accidents will drop, hopefully as much as in half.²¹

The road development master plan was created by MPWT in 2004 as a plan for how road infrastructure will encourage the development of Cambodia and lays out plans for how to achieve their goals. This is made with 6 different strategies that are thought to help the MPWT to achieve its goals. In 2013 the MPWT commissioned a study on a new road master plan which was carried out by Henan Provincial Communications Planning & Design Institute Co., Ltd as the railway master plan divided the project into a short-term, medium-term, and long-term plan. Together with this, the MPWT created a road improvement policy that said that national roads need to be paved, provincial and rural roads to be regularly maintained, and all temporary bridges connected to the road system and weak bridges to become permanent bridges.²²

Port and shipping policy and administration

The Autonomous Port of Sihanoukville (PAS) and Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) are managed by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) and Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) but are still autonomous. The other ports are managed by local authorities or the MPWT.²³

The legislative acts around ports and waterborne shipping have many different acts but the most important ones are:

1. Law on Inland Waterway Transport²⁴
2. National Port Policy²⁵
3. Prakas of an Act for the Registration of Merchant Vessels²⁶

Sub-decree No. 40 mostly follows the regulations that are outlined in the 1974 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) which requires the shipping companies to have a certain security on their vessels and regulate the safety in the Cambodian ports. It also allows port security personnel to inspect the ship if there are suspicions of it being unsafe.²⁷

The registration of ships in Cambodia has had a lot of problems with a lack of regulations and contracting out the work to private companies. This led to foreign-owned vessels registering as Cambodians to avoid taxation but also avoid illegal acts like supporting the drug trade, illegal fishing, and human trafficking.  The Sub‐decree on the Organization and Functioning of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport created the General Department of Waterway‐Maritime Transport and Ports (GDWMTP) under MPWT (Article 6). GDWMTP has two subservient departments that overseas registration, the departments are the Inland Waterways Transport Department (IWTD) and the Merchant Marine Department (MMD) (article 33).²⁸

When it comes to general regulations of inland waterways then Circular No. 003 on Ship Management Inland and Circular No. 006 on sea shipping management was the main legislative act in force. But in 2024 the Law on Inland Waterway Transport was passed and gave a much more comprehensive legal document on the management and management for ships and ports. The name may suggest that it has mostly to do with inland waterways, but it also regulates the oceangoing traffic as well. This law replaced all other legal acts that are contrary to its provisions which are relevant to the previously mentioned sub-decrees, Prakas, and circulars. The law has 18 chapters with many subsections inside the chapters.²⁹

Related to transport and shipping policy and administration:

• Infrastructure
• Electricity infrastructure