Kampot port in Cambodia will be revitalized
Kampot Province, located in the south of Cambodia, is rich in products and has an excellent coastline of 94 kilometers. In the 19th century, Kampot Port was the largest port in Cambodia. Today, with the completion of the general contracting project for the design and construction of Kampot Port undertaken by China Railway Construction Port and Shipping Administration Group Co., Ltd., Kampot Port will return to its glory and become an important import and export trade port in Cambodia.
"After the Kampot Port is operated, it will bring more job opportunities and greater benefits to the local people, and bring greater economic benefits to Cambodia." The Governor of Kampot Province Qiu Dai said that the construction of Kampot Port will be completed. The sea passage for Kampot province to the world has become a new business card for the province and Cambodia.
Build Cambodia's best deep-water port
Cambodia currently has 3 international ports, namely Sihanoukville Port and Koh Kong Port on the Gulf of Thailand, and Phnom Penh Port on the Mekong River. However, the water depth conditions of these three ports are not too good. The deepest port of Sihanoukville is no more than 9 meters, which affects the entry and exit of large ships. The water depth of Kampot port exceeds the existing three major international ports.
In early September, the groundbreaking ceremony of the 20,000-ton dock basin and channel dredging project (Phase I) of Kampot Port and the signing ceremony of the 30,000-ton container terminal project (Phase II) were held at the Kampot Provincial Government. After the dredging project of the project is completed, the water depth of the channel of Kampot Port will reach 13.5 meters, with a maximum navigable vessel of 50,000 tons, and it will once again become the largest port in Cambodia.
"Our goal is to build Kampot Port into Cambodia's important import and export trade port step by step, making it the best deep-water port in Cambodia." said Li Fasheng, deputy general manager of China Railway Construction Port and Shipping Group Co., Ltd. After the completion of the second phase of the project, bulk transportation between Kampot and other parts of the world will be more convenient and smooth, and Kampot Port will play a more important role in Cambodia's economic growth in the future.
"Equivalent to filling 140 football fields on the sea"
At the construction site of the 20,000-ton wharf basin and channel dredging project of Kampot Port, two large and one small vessels are working intensively on the sea. Chen Wenfeng, general manager of the Cambodia branch of China Railway Construction Port and Shipping Administration Group, told reporters that the two ships are the "Dingfengjun" cutter suction ship group. They are like two powerful men, one claw and one claw to catch the sand on the seabed. "Come up and fill in the nearshore area planned in advance, and piled up to form the new wharf of Kampot Port.
According to Chen Wenfeng, the amount of dredging works for the first phase of the project is not less than 10 million cubic meters, and the land area is expected to be 1 million square meters. This is equivalent to filling 140 football fields on the sea and moving the coastline forward by 4 Kilometers". Such a huge dredging and filling project has never been seen in Cambodia. In order to ensure the quality of the project, the "Dingfengjun" cutter suction vessel and the 4000-meter blow-filled float pipe were directly transported from Dalian, China to the Kampot port. Along with the crew, there are more than 30 experienced crew members.
Song Yang, the third officer of the cutter suction vessel, is operating the deck machinery on the console. "The current working speed of the cutter suction vessel is about 3,500 cubic meters per hour, which is equivalent to pumping out 70 containers of seabed sediment per hour." Song Yang said that the cutter suction vessel can work for 20 hours a day and is known in the industry as " Reclamation artifact".
"Created more job opportunities for the Cambodian people"
At the Kampot port operation site, Chinese crews are cutting and sucking sediment from the sea, while Cambodian workers are laying pipelines on the shore to transport the sediment to designated land areas for filling. "We cooperate very well, and it is a pleasure to work with them!" Pipeline worker Suoken said, "Chinese companies are very friendly to us and management is very user-friendly. We and our Chinese colleagues are like a family."
Giovanni, an excavator driver working on the first phase of the Kampot Port project, said that the word "One Belt One Road" is often heard in Cambodian news. "The'Belt and Road' has created more job opportunities for the Cambodian people. Thanks to the Chinese brothers for helping us build Kampot Port. Kampot's future prosperity and development have their share of credit."
Chinese companies build roads and bridges, build ports and airports in Cambodia. These projects will improve Cambodia's transportation capacity, reduce logistics costs, and promote trade exchanges. Sun Zhanto, Minister of Public Works and Transport of Cambodia, said that infrastructure such as ports and bridges are vital to Cambodia's economic development, and China is an important partner in Cambodia's infrastructure development.
Cambodian Information Minister Kanharis said in an interview: "We must seize the opportunity to promote national development...If we want to catch up with other countries, we need foreign investment.
Anti-Chinese sentiment
Sihanoukville, a port city in southern Cambodia, has rapidly built more than 30 casinos in recent years, attracting many Chinese tourists and Chinese-funded infrastructure construction. This created job opportunities for the local area and brought prosperity, but at the same time it also pushed up crime rates and housing prices, and aroused some anti-Chinese sentiment.
China is Cambodia’s largest source of foreign investment. Sihanoukville, the second largest city in Cambodia, introduced US$1.3 billion (approximately S$1.77 billion) of foreign investment from the beginning of 2016 to the end of March this year, of which as much as US$1.1 billion came from China. Sihanoukville’s projects under China’s Belt and Road Initiative include a special economic zone and a four-lane toll road leading to the capital, Phnom Penh.
This special economic zone has so far more than 100 Chinese-funded manufacturing plants in operation. Chinese state-owned and private companies have invested approximately US$4.2 billion in infrastructure projects on Cambodia’s southern coast, including the construction of power plants and offshore oil exploration.
Sihanoukville is currently building 12 hotel apartment projects, which are sold to Chinese tourists and investors who are interested in buying second homes; two tax-free special economic zones are under construction, and there are plans to open more casinos.
Sihanoukville, with a population of about 160,000, has an average annual economic growth rate of nearly 8%, one percentage point higher than the national average. The influx of Chinese capital has made Chinese signs everywhere in the city, and Chinese-funded hotels, companies, shops, supermarkets, and restaurants have sprung up. However, under this scene of prosperity, local residents have developed anti-Chinese sentiments.