SIHANOUKVILLE: The Minister of Public Works and Transportation Sun Chanthol, has apologized to the people who drive along National Road No. 3 from Kampot to Veal Renh, as the Ministry has been unable to rebuild this road due to the land in the area not being suitable for roadwork.

Speaking during the inspection of the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway on Thursday night, 22 September, Senior Minister Sun Chanthol said that the land between Kampot and Veal Renh has a soft dirt composition that requires an extra foundation to be laid in order for a proper road to be built, which is a very costly process.

He added that he has now asked the Chinese company that built the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway to help construct this road in order to make it easier for people who travel along it.

"This road, frankly, if we complete the construction today, a week or month later it will be destroyed, because the ground below it is not good,” he said. “We watch the cars drive and see the land get pushed down, but when the car has past, the land rises up again. [It is about] 5 km of land, and it is not that we do not know how to fix this, we know how but we just need the budget to do it properly."

According to the Senior Minister, this road was originally built in the 1960s, and until now, there have organizations such as the World Bank and companies from countries like South Korea that still have not been able to help rebuild it.

The Senior Minister took responsibility for this omission and apologized to the people.

He said, "We are very sad about this. When I went to National Road No. 3, I said, I’m sorry, this is a big shame for the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, which has not been able to make this road better because we do not have the budget.”

According to the Senior Minister, within a total distance of 20 km, there is a stretch of the road that is roughly 5 km long that has a soft dirt composition, which affects the construction of the road. He stated that in order to strengthen this part of the road, an extra layer of foundation is required, making it a highly costly construction process.