Development and funding for transport

A bird eye view of the Phnom Penh-Preah Sihanouk Expressway. Photo taken from PPSHV expressway Facebook page.

The Comprehensive Master Plan on the Cambodian Transit and Logistics System 2023-33 (CITLS) is the main document to showcase the projects that the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) is planning which will have a total cost of 36 billion USD. The Master plan main vision is to transform the transportation system making it more efficient to boost economic growth and overcome any potential challenges in the future. To realize the vision, the 3-3-4-2 strategy were implemented. The number indicates three major transport corridors, three secondary transport corridors, four major transport hubs, and two external transport nodes. The second strategy is the 2-2-N which refers to 2 core cities, 2 major poles, and N for logistics centres that aim to connect the country and make the logistics process smoother. There are three ways to support the transportation development projects in the CITLS strategies including national budgeting financing, foreign investments or loans, and lastly through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP).¹ For foreign investment, the main multilateral investors in 2022 for infrastructure projects are JICA (13% of all investments), ADB (10%), EXIM Bank Solution of China (9%). These investors not only provide financial investments into infrastructure projects but also support in policy and legal infrastructure development in Cambodia.²

Development and funding for air travel 

Cambodia’s international airports have primarily been developed through Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contracts with foreign construction companies. Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville airports have BOT contracts until 2040 with Cambodia Airports (SCA).³ The newly constructed Siem Reap Angkor airport is under a 55-year BOT contract with Angkor International Airport Investment (AIAI).⁴ Dara Sakor International Airport in Koh Kong is on a 99-year Build-Own-Operate (BOO) contract with Tianjin Union Development Group (UDG).⁵ Techo Takhmao International Airport (TTIA) is being built by Cambodia Airport Investment Company (CAIC), a joint venture between Overseas Cambodian Investment Corporation (OCIC) and the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA),⁶ under a Design, Build, Finance, Own, and Operate (DBFOO) contract.⁷ The construction of these airports has different funding mechanism with the majority being built by companies who find investment through the companies’ assets. In the case of TTIA, CAIC investment came from the issuing of bonds for $378 million to attain the capital.⁸

Information on major airports in Cambodia

When it comes to future developments there is a plan to expand Sihanoukville international Airport with a new terminal by 2026.¹⁵ There are also many domestic airports that are in different stages of progress in the planning process to being operational. These are:  

• Koh Rong 
• Bavet (Bavet City)  
• Poi Pet (Kon Damrey)  
• Kampong Chhnang  
• Koh Kong  
• Battambang  
• Stung Treng  
• New Preah Vihear (Sra Eam)  
• New Mondulkiri (ORANG)  
• New Rattanakiri (Kalay) ¹⁶ 

Development and funding for rail transport 

Since the early 2010s, there has been renewed government investment in rehabilitating the northern line and southern line of Cambodia railway system. However, resettlement problems¹⁷, cost overruns, flooding and construction quality issues caused delays to the northern line work. Between 2008 and 2013, the total loans given to RGC on railway rehabilitation and development was $137.42 million USD but there was a need for the RGC to invest $77.42 million USD more between 2015-2018.¹⁸

The CITLS has 8 railway transport projects both which are rehabilitation projects and construction of new lines. There are 4 short and medium-term projects in (2023-2027) that cost $3,800 million and 4 long-term projects (2028-2033) that cost $6,210 million. 

Short and medium-term projects (2023-2027)

Long term project (2028-2033)

DUWON (a Korean shipping company) have suggested the plan to link Ho Chi Minh-City and Bangkok by creating a highspeed network. In this plan the time to travel from Bavet to Poi Pet will be as fast as 2 hours which is a great improvement compared to the speed of road bound vehicles.²⁰ 

Development and funding for road transport 

The road transport network is seen as being very important for the general development of Cambodia. In the CITLS, there are numerous road development projects that aims to enhances Cambodian roads competitiveness, safety, availability and efficiency. In the development strategy, the new roads that are managed by the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MPWT) will be paved with either Double bituminous surface-treated pavement (DBST) or Asphalt concrete while some of the rural roads will be made with DBST and Laterite.  

Another major road type that reduces traveling time is the expressway. This type of road is also emphasized in the CITLS. According to the CITLS, as of 2024, there are 9 Cambodia expressway project divided to two types. They are short/medium-term project from 2023 to 2027 (4 projects), and long term project from 2028-2033 (5 projects) totaling $7,174 million USD. ²¹

Short and medium term project of road transport

After these projects are completed then there will be a further expansion of road shown on map below:

When it comes to construction of other road projects then the CITLS has 85 other projects that constitute rehabilitation and maintenance of existing roads and bridges and construction of new roads and bridges or the reconstruction of other roads and bridges with a total cost of $6,428 million.²² The funding is done through both loans and grants from foreign investors and from the national budget. The hope is that the cost can be reduced on the national budget by using PPP-agreements²³ 

Development and funding for seaborne transport 

In Cambodia, the two main active international ports are Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS) and Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP). PAS is doing an expansion of the terminals with the expected funded as a loan from JICA. Loans on phase 2 and phase 3 expansion adding two new terminals. The first terminal’s length is expected to be 400meters long with 16.5meters in depth. Once complete, it capable of hosting 120,000 DWT of vessel. The second terminal will be 430 meters in length with 17.5 meters in depth. The terminal’s capacity will be 160,000 DWT of vessels. The two newly constructed terminal will expand the total TEU to 2.5 million. The project is expected to finish by 2030. These installations have the potential of making PAS into one of the most important regional ports in Southeast Asia and will allow larger ships to dock without having to unload at other ports.²⁴ For PAP, the need for expansion has become critical due to high activity, therefore in its phase 4 expansion it hopes to build more terminals that will allow the port capacity to be 900 000 TEU.²⁵ There is a total of 20 different maritime transport project with a total cost according to the CITLS estimate $5,461 million and that is not including projects on the waterway system of Cambodia around the Mekong River.²⁶

As of 2024, for seaborne and water transportation, one of the major project in development is the Funan-Techo canal which is a 180 km canal between Prek​Takeo on the Mekong and the Sea in Kep province which stands as being more than 50% of the entire waterway development estimated cost laid out in the CITLS ($1,700 million out of $3,251 million).²⁷  The current arrangements is that the first When it comes to funding for the project the first 21 km will be constructed and owned by Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS) with 26%²⁸ and Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) with 25%²⁹ and 49% will be owned by Overseas Cambodian Investment Corp (OCIC). The rest of the canal (159 km) will be owned minimum 51% by Cambodian entities and 49% by foreign entities with the construction will be done by China road and bridge corporation.³⁰

Related to Development and funding for transport:

• Infrastructure
• Transport and shipping policy and administration
• Transport infrastructure and facilities