The Cambodian Government has officially announced that China ’s Shanghai Co. will perform an upgrade and expansion of the Phnom Penh river port.
The Phnom Penh Port Department Director, Hei Bavy, said the 30 million USD project is being funded through loans from the Chinese government. It is to kick off in March and will be finished in 30 months.
In the first phase, the Shanghai Co. will upgrade modern cargo-handling equipment for the Phnom Penh River Port, which was built 59 years ago, and build a new deep-water port in Kandal province, 20 km east of Phnom Penh, to welcome heavy tonnage cargo freighters.
The project is expected to help increase the port’s handling capacity to between 120,000 and 300,000 containers a year from the current 50,000-60,000 containers.
Last year, just 43,500 containers were handled at the port, representing a decrease of 7.45 percent year on year, due to the global economic crisis.
The figure is expected to increase to 60,000 standard containers this year as the demand for the export of rice and other farm produce is surging, said Hei Bavy./.