P Veng builds infrastructure for ecotourism opportunities

THE Prey Veng provincial leadership have expressed their commitment to building more transport infrastructure in both urban and rural areas to attract more visitors to the province. They described the province as having further tourism potential, but described the existing infrastructure as “limited”.

Their commitment was made at a press conference on the provincial administration’s achievements of the past years, held at the Council of Ministers in Phnom Penh on March 22.

Provincial governor Chea Somethy said that in the future, the province will become a major tourist destination, with the potential to attract more visitors.

“The province’s current plans focus on promoting the construction and maintenance of national and provincial roads in order to connect them from the provincial town to the districts and vice-versa.

“At the request of the people, we are concentrating on transport infrastructure to contribute to the development of the province and boost the local economy,” he said.

He noted that a number of companies are looking into creating eco-tourism sites in the multi-use area of Toul Pon Taley Boeung Snae, which has an area of 3,557ha.

“As a large source of water that never dries up, it has a lot of tourism potential,” he said.

Somethy noted that the provincial administration is also working with the an inter-ministerial group, led by the Ministry of Environment, to establish a natural, cultural, and historical heritage site at Nokor Phnom Cheu Kach Ba Phnom by sub-decree.

Un Sothea, director of the provincial Department of Public Works and Transport, said that in the past five years, the department has constructed more than 228km of paved roads,23km of concrete roads, 471km of rocky soil mix roads, along with red gravel roads and sand trails, all while maintaining the existing roads.

He said the province has 20 bridges with a total length of 594m and more than 5km of drainage pipes and culverts along the roads.

Sothea said the province’s vision is to boost tourism through efforts to build better road infrastructure, according to the government’s vision of tourism being a key area of economic development.

According to the provincial administration’s report, presented at the conference, Prey Veng has one registered historical site, Nokor Phnom, which is located in Ba Phnom district. It also has three natural heritage areas – Toul Pon Taley Boeung Snae, home to 150,000 to 200,000 species of birds, Stung Char in Kamchay Mear district, and Dey Dos (Sak Peam Chor).

It added that the province boasts three cultural resorts – Tuol Baray Andet, Tuol Os Lok Pratheat in Prey Veng town, and Prasat Prey Deum Srok in Sithor Kandal district.

In the five years from 2018 to 2022, a total of 1,920,344 tourists visited Prey Veng, 1,905,765 of them domestic and 14,579 of them international guests.