PHNOM PENH: The Minister of Public Works, Senior Minister Sun Chanthol, has said that Cambodia will not be borrowing money from China to build high-speed railways in the country.

He added that media coverage by the Voice of America (VOA) news network shone a negative light on the Royal Government by saying that Cambodia will fall into a debt trap after borrowing US $4 billion from China to build a high-speed railway, however, he said this was false and disregarded the government's policy on high-speed rail development.

Speaking at a meeting to review the Ministry’s work on Wednesday morning, 15 February 2023, Senior Minister Sun Chanthol announced that the Cambodian government will not borrow money to build the railway from Phnom Penh to Poipet, and is instead seeking partnerships with developers.

“It has been alleged that the government will borrow US $4 billion to build this railway, so the Royal Government will fall into debt trap, but they don’t understand anything," he said. "VOA does not understand what we are doing and accuses us of borrowing US $4 billion, but sorry! The Royal Government of Cambodia, under the leadership of Prime Minister Hun Sen, is not borrowing US $4 billion to build the railway from Phnom Penh to Poipet!"

The Senior Minister explained that the construction of this railway, as instructed by the Prime Minister, will follow the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project delivery method, whereby the construction company will operate the road for some time before handing it over to the Royal Government. He explained that this is an example of a public-private partnership (PPP), which is a development partnership between the public and private sector. This idea was raised by Prime Minister Hun Sen to both the President and Prime Minister of China.

VOA Cambodia, on 4 February 2023, published an article alleging that Cambodia is currently seeking more help from China and raised concerns over Cambodia falling into a 'debt trap'. However, the Foreign Ministry responded to this report by saying it was false and politically motivated with the intention to confuse the public.

The project to upgrade the northern Phnom Penh-Poipet railway to a high-speed railway is planned to cost about US $4 billion, and will include an upgrade of the train carriages as well. Construction is expected to take about four years.