First tarmac plant underway
First tarmac plant underway
The government is investing in building the Kingdom’s first asphalt concrete (AC) batch mix plant, with a 120-tonne per hour capacity in a bid to ramp up the development of road infrastructure and reduce imports, according to Minister of Public Works and Transport Sun Chanthol.
Chanthol made the remark during a visit to the construction site for inspection after the plant broke ground last month in Kampot province’s Kampong Trach district, near the border with Kep province.
Road construction in Cambodia will pick up speed and see marked improvements in quality as a result of the project, the minister claimed, adding that the Kingdom traditionally ordered AC, or tarmac, from abroad, leading to extra haulage costs and time lost.
These drawbacks prompted the ministry to look to Shanghai Construction (Cambodia) Co Ltd for its machinery needs to build the plant, he said.
The complete set of equipment installed at the facility cost $1.1 million, Chanthol said, adding that the main raw materials used will be crushed rock, sand and crumb rubber.
“Having our own AC plant will help us cut down on purchases from other” countries, he said. “At the same time, we’ll also allow the private sector to buy AC for their projects. The ministry will also set up an autonomous team to manage and sell the AC.”
With government plans set in motion that require higher-quality roads, Chanthol said the ministry plans to build another AC plant in Battambang province “soon”.
“This year or next year, the Shanghai company will provide another set of AC-production machines to Cambodia – which we may be setting up in Battambang – because there are many DBST [double bituminous surface treatment] roads that need to be turned into AC roads,” he said.
Logistics Business Association president Chea Chandara told The Post on June 6 that setting up a domestic AC plant would greatly benefit the freight sector as well as the national economy as a whole.
The facility will accelerate the construction of roads in Cambodia and could lead to the construction of many new roads, he said. “Having more good roads will save us a lot of time and money, especially with more shortcuts and detours.”
The government spent more than $11.376 billion between 1993 and June 2020 to finance public investment projects to support long-term sustainable economic growth and increase economic productivity and production.
In the first six months of 2020, the government signed concessional loan agreements with development partners (DPs) totalling $479.05 million, the Ministry of Economy and Finance reported in October.
That amount is equivalent to SDR 346.45 million and accounts for 25 per cent of the debt ceiling of SDR 1,400 million. SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries’ official reserves.
In terms of the loans, 93 per cent – $443.65 million – were signed with bilateral DPs and slated for infrastructure and seven per cent – $35.4 million – with multilateral DPs and going toward other priorities.
Infrastructure priorities include roads, bridges, railways, ports, airports, irrigation systems, electricity, water supply, and wastewater treatment plants.
The government has distributed $8.49 billion from DPs in the past 17 years accounting for 65 per cent of the total borrowing of which 86 per cent covered public investment in infrastructure and 14 per cent other priority sectors.
