Over 4.2 mln vehicles travel on 1st Chinese-invested expressway in Cambodia: official

This aerial photo taken on Oct. 28, 2022 shows the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville (PPSHV) Expressway in Kampong Speu Province, Cambodia. (PPSHV Expressway/Handout via Xinhua)

Transport ministry official Heang Sotheayuth says Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway has played a crucial role in enhancing the efficiency of the travel and logistics system in Cambodia, and it is a strategic road to boost tourism and trade exchanges with other countries.

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- More than 4.2 million vehicles had traveled on the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway in the first 11 months since its official opening to the public in November last year, a senior Cambodian official said on Tuesday.

"From November 2022 to September 2023, the total traffic volume on the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway was 4.24 million," Heang Sotheayuth, spokesman and director general of Technology and Public Relations at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, told Xinhua.

Invested by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) with 2 billion U.S. dollars, the 187-km expressway connects the capital Phnom Penh with the international deep-water seaport province of Preah Sihanouk.

Sotheayuth said the expressway has played a crucial role in enhancing the efficiency of the travel and logistics system in Cambodia, and it is a strategic road to boost tourism and trade exchanges with other countries.

"The Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway has been boosting the country's economy, tourism and trade as it connects the capital with the kingdom's largest seaport," he said.

This photo taken on Oct. 8, 2022 shows vehicles lining up at a toll station on the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (PPSHV Expressway/Handout via Xinhua)

The spokesman said traveling on the expressway saves fuel and time and is considerably safer than traveling on ordinary roads.

Sotheayuth said the expressway was one of the fruits of cooperation between Cambodia and China under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

With two lanes for traffic in each direction plus an emergency lane on each side and paved with asphalt concrete, vehicles will be able to reach their destinations within two hours through the expressway instead of five hours on National Road 4. ■