[PEOPLE'S DAILY ONLINE]
Cambodia broke ground for the construction
of the Kingdom's second largest new container terminal of Phnom Penh
Autonomous Port on Wednesday in order to meet the growing demands of
shipments.
The ground-breaking ceremony was presided over by
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Pan
Guangxue. It was also attended by 2,000 participants, including top
government officials, diplomats, locals and students.
According
to the master plan, the 10-hectare terminal is being constructed by the
China-based Shanghai Construction (Group) General Company with a soft
loan of 28.2 million U.S. dollars provided by the Chinese side. It will
take 30 months to be completed.
The terminal will have a total
capacity of 120,000 TEUs (20- foot equivalent unit) per year and it will
consist of a wharf platform enabling two 5,000 tones of container
berths.
The terminal is located along the Mekong River in Kean Svay district, about 30 kilometers east of Phnom Penh.
Speaking
at the ceremony, Hun Sen said that the new terminal is a new
achievement of numerous ones under bilateral cooperation between
Cambodia and China and expressed thanks to China for its constantly
financial supports to Cambodia.
"I strongly believe the new
container dock will increase the loading/unloading capacity of the Phnom
Penh Autonomous Port," he said, adding that "The new dock will become a
main hub for distributing goods across the country that can push the
internal integration, international trade and regional trade a step
further, especially to realize our rice export target of 1 million
metric tons per annum."
The terminal will not only connect Phnom
Penh Autonomous Port to Vietnam's Cai Map port, but also help to ship
goods directly to Singapore, Malaysia, and China's Hong Kong and
Shanghai, as well as other neighboring countries and regions without
ship transfer, the prime minister said.
"In the coming years,
Cambodia will have more goods for export, besides garment exports, we
will have agricultural products and we have already opened market with
China on rice, cassava and other products, so it will facilitate
Cambodia's exports to China and other countries," said Hun Sen.
The new terminal will add more capacity to its existing Phnom Penh Autonomous Port of only 80,000 TEUs, said Hun Sen.
Pan Guangxue said that the construction of the terminal is a new symbol of closer cooperation between the two countries.
"China
sees that the construction of the new container terminal is vital to
keeping up with the increasing demands of Cambodia's imports and
exports," he said.
"It will be essential to boost more activities of enterprises, the manufacturing industry and agricultural sector."
He
reiterated that China is committed to helping Cambodia in all sectors
including waterway transportation, roads, bridges, irrigation system,
and electricity so as to boost the development of Cambodian economy.
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