Firm urged to finish road construction
MINISTER of Public Works and Transport Sun Chanthol urged the South Korean construction firm contracted to repair national roads 2 and 22 to bring in additional machinery and workers in order to complete their work during the dry seasons as planned.
Chanthol told reporters during an inspection on February 19 that the construction period, from planning to completion, was supposed to be 30 months starting from October 2019 and scheduled to be finished on April 16, 2022. The construction broke ground on February 11 last year.
He said 50 per cent of that allotted time period had now passed, but only 27 per cent of the planned road construction had been achieved so far.
The two projects involve the construction of 72.17km of roads, with 62.56km of that covering a stretch of National Road 2 from the Takhmao town roundabout in Kandal province to O’Chambak Takeo Detour Circle in Takeo province. The remaining 9.61km covers National Road 22 from O’Chambak to Ang Ta Som village.
Due to the slower than expected
progress, Chanthol said the firm, Hanshin Engineering and Construction Co Ltd, should invest more resources into the project during this dry season as it is the best time of the year to speed up construction.
“Travelling along the road today, I’ve observed that there just isn’t enough heavy machinery in place to take advantage of the favourable conditions for construction right now, since there’s no rain.
“We are going to regret not using this time wisely,” he said.
During the inspection, Chanthol also observed that there are some stretches of
completed road that are not up to the standard of quality he expects, so he has further instructed the engineers to make sure their work is completed to the standards set out in the government’s regulations.
“We can negotiate about the duration, like if there’s a one or two month delay and they have clear reasons for it. But the road quality cannot be negotiated over. Quality must be the priority,” he said.
Chanthol noted that his inspection was not meant to hold anyone accountable at this point but to find the necessary technical solutions to these issues that would be acceptable to all parties involved.
However, he said, if the company does not start doing all of its work to the expected standard of quality, then the ministry would escalate the issue by sending them an official letter of warning.
Affiliated Network for Social Accountability executive director San Chey said the slow progress was possibly due to the complexity of the road itself and the time it took to deal with the people living next to the road. He said the Covid-19 situation could be causing slowdowns as well.
“The company doesn’t likely intend to delay the construction because it would only make them lose profits. The longer they delay the construction while keeping paying their workers, the more they have to spend on building the road,” he said.
Chey called on both the contractor and the government to pay attention to preparing drainage systems for the roads and to bridge more sections of the road to help drain water faster during the rainy season. He noted that he could also see bridges without drainage systems in some finished parts of the two-lane roads.
THE British Prime Minister’s trade envoy to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam on February 18 pledged to give her all to mobilise British investors and businessmen to analyse and maximise investment and trade potential and advantages in Cambodia and reap the full benefits of the ASEAN country’s preferential trade tariffs.
Heather Wheeler, who is also Conservative member of Parliament (MP) for South Derbyshire district, made the remark at a discussion meeting with Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak held via video link.
Cambodia was among 46 other least developed countries to be granted preferential trade status under the UK’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), according to the UK Department for International Trade on December 17.
The UK was historically one of Cambodia’s largest importers in the EU, accounting for about 25 to 30 per cent of total exports to the bloc, Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) secretarygeneral Ken Loo told The Post on December 25.
At the meeting, Wheeler lauded the Kingdom’s recent progress, annual economic growth and export potential, while praising the government for its efforts in smoothening the process for the operations of British businesspeople and investors.
“I will continue to strive to attract British investors to study more about the potential that Cambodia is currently achieving,” she said.
Wheeler noted the shock Covid-19 had on the garment and textile sector, which she emphasised is an important pillar of the Cambodian economy and informed the minister about the Accelerated COVID Economic Support (ACES) project supported by the British government for ASEAN countries.
Sorasak acclaimed the UK’s considerable contributions to the Cambodian economy and human resource development via financing for the expansion of priority sectors – especially education, economy and trade
– and the provision of trade preferences that came into effect last month as the Brexit transition period ended.
He said the government “has made great efforts to reform institutions and regulations for economic integration and has shown a strong will to expand trade partnerships through the establishment of free trade agreements with major trading partners in the region”.
He also expressed support for the progress of the UK-ASEAN Dialogue Partnership, a region of great potential, and informed the British side that Cambodia would host the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) this year and chair the upcoming 40th ASEAN Summit next year.
Bilateral trade between
Cambodia and the UK in the first 11 months of last year was worth $813.22 million, down by 17.61 per cent from the $987.09 million logged in the same period in 2019, the Ministry of Economy and Finance reported.
Cambodia exported $766.77 million worth of merchandise during the period, down 16.02 per cent year-on-year from $913.01 million, and imported $46.45 million, down 37.30 per cent year-on-year from $74.08 million.
The ministry said most of Cambodia’s exports to the UK were garment, footwear, bicycles, milled rice and agricultural products, while automobiles and machinery comprised the bulk of imports.
EU FOREIGN ministers are expected to give the go-ahead on February 22 to sanctions on Russia over the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and a crackdown on protests.
The top diplomats from the 27-nation bloc meet in Brussels for talks that will also include a wide-ranging videoconference with new US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The move to target the Kremlin comes two weeks after EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was caught in a diplomatic ambush in Moscow that enraged member states.
Capitals are eyeing using the EU’s new human rights sanctions regime for the first time to hit individuals responsible for the clampdown with asset freezes and visa bans, diplomats said.
A senior European diplomat said: “I expect a political agreement to be reached.
“Then experts from the member states should work on the names.”
The mood towards Moscow has hardened in the wake of Borrell’s disastrous trip to Russia, during which Moscow announced it was expelling three European diplomats and rebuffed talk of cooperation.
A senior EU official said: “They rejected out of hand any dialogue that was proposed.”
The EU has already hit Russia with waves of sanctions over the 2014 annexation of Crimea and Moscow’s fuelling of the war in Ukraine.
The bloc in October slapped six officials on a blacklist over the poisoning of
Navalny with Novichok, a nerve agent.
President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent domestic critic was this month jailed for almost three years after returning to Russia following treatment in Germany.
His sentencing sparked nationwide protests that saw baton-wielding security forces detain thousands.
Two of Navalny’s closest allies were set to meet with a dozen EU foreign ministers in Brussels on February 21 to push for sanctions targeting high-profile oligarchs they accuse of funding Putin’s regime.
But diplomats say any measures have to be tied directly to abuses and need to stand up to challenges in court.
Blinken calling
While European countries appear to be readying a common front against the Kremlin they are also keen to allow for cooperation on efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal after former US leader Donald Trump withdrew in 2018.
The EU is currently looking to broker a meeting between Washington, Tehran and other signatories – including Moscow – to try to work out how to salvage the 2015 accord.
The repression in Russia is not the only rights issue set to be addressed at the meeting.
A response to a military coup and increasingly lethal crackdown on protesters in Myanmar is to feature on the agenda, as are measures over disputed elections last year in Venezuela.