P Vihear fixing damaged roads
THE Preah Vihear prov incia l Department of Public Works and Transport has begun repairing roads which were damaged by floods this year.
The department’s director, Sam Leangtry, told The Post on Monday that floods have damaged 8km of roads in the province this year.
Included are segments of national roads 9 and 95 and smaller roads in districts such as Choam Ksan, Chheb and Tbeng Meanchey.
“Water levels have decreased recently. Therefore, our team at the [provincial] Department of Public Works and Transport has begun to rebuild the [damaged] roads to facilitate travel for our citizens.
“In three days, our team has finished 30 per cent of the entire reconstruction,” he said.
National Committee for Disaster Management (Cambodia) (NCDM) data shows that Mekong River floodwaters damaged 74km of nationa l and prov incia l roads in the Kingdom.
The data shows that a total of 1,002km of roads were damaged, as well as 926km of countryside roads – which include concrete, gravel and unpaved roads. This figure does not include damage caused by flash floods.
The data merely paints a partial image of the damage caused by this year’s floods, NCDM spokesman Keo Vy told The Post on Monday.
Floods this year have killed at least 20 people, injured 11, and destroyed more than 13,000ha of rice crops and thousands of hectares of cash crops.
“However, the total cost of the damage has not yet been quantified as water levels have just started to drop in some areas,” said Vy.
Recently, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport urged national and provincial technical officials to assess damage costs so that action plans could be created to rebuild the roads as soon as possible.
The ministry’s secretary of state and spokesman Pal Chandara told The Post on Monday that flood damage assessment is underway, with officials reconstructing main national roads.
The roads need to be ready for the Sea Festival which will be held in Kampot province in December, he said, as well as the 1st World Cycling Tour of Cambodia Bay – scheduled for early in January – which will cover Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk, Kampot and Kep provinces.
“Our technical officials have not finished their cost assessment of the flood-damaged roads as water levels have just begun to go down in some provinces,” said Chandara.
He said the authorities have begun to rebuild some of the damaged roads in several provinces.