Mom Kunthear
Photo by: Pha Lina
A bus passes by Monivong Boulevard yesterday in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district.
A bus passes by Monivong Boulevard yesterday in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district.
The French government has offered 350,000 euros (US$507,010) to Phnom Penh to support a feasibility study for a public bus and tram transportation system in the capital.
Speaking at the Council for the Development of Cambodia on Saturday, Phnom Penh governor Kep Chuktema announced the grant after a meeting with officials at the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
“They offered us 350,000 euros for studying the project, but I don’t know how much for the project [in total], it may cost a budget of millions,” he said.
The city will spend eight months on the study, he added.
“What we expect from this project is first, to help with traffic – that is the biggest problem in Phnom Penh nowadays. And second, to help our people to spend less on transportation,” Kep Chuktema said.
“Our people can avoid using their own vehicles, will spend less on transportation and can get to work and school on time.”
The governor said Phnom Penh needed to establish a public transportation system within the next five years, or the city would face more problems from the increase in traffic.
Now, he said, there are an estimated 190,000 cars and nearly one million motorbikes in the capital.
The gift from France came during a two-day visit by French Prime Minister François Fillon.
A statement released by the French embassy said that a representative for SYSTRA, an international engineering and consulting group with expertise in rail and public transport, had inked the deal for the first phase of the study with Kep Chuktema.
Yem Nary, a teacher at Norton University in Phnom Penh, said yesterday that she welcomed the project. She said she would stop commuting by car and switch to public transportation if it proved cheap, fast and easy.
Another Phnom Penh resident, Sok Naychorn, said he was happy to hear about the proposal but was unsure whether City Hall would succeed. “I will wait and see whether the City Hall officials can do their project or not. If it has this kind of public transportation, it will be good for our country,” he said.
Preap Chanvibol, director of the land transport department at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, said yesterday that a robust public transportation system could reduce traffic and the number of accidents.
Speaking at the Council for the Development of Cambodia on Saturday, Phnom Penh governor Kep Chuktema announced the grant after a meeting with officials at the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
“They offered us 350,000 euros for studying the project, but I don’t know how much for the project [in total], it may cost a budget of millions,” he said.
The city will spend eight months on the study, he added.
“What we expect from this project is first, to help with traffic – that is the biggest problem in Phnom Penh nowadays. And second, to help our people to spend less on transportation,” Kep Chuktema said.
“Our people can avoid using their own vehicles, will spend less on transportation and can get to work and school on time.”
The governor said Phnom Penh needed to establish a public transportation system within the next five years, or the city would face more problems from the increase in traffic.
Now, he said, there are an estimated 190,000 cars and nearly one million motorbikes in the capital.
The gift from France came during a two-day visit by French Prime Minister François Fillon.
A statement released by the French embassy said that a representative for SYSTRA, an international engineering and consulting group with expertise in rail and public transport, had inked the deal for the first phase of the study with Kep Chuktema.
Yem Nary, a teacher at Norton University in Phnom Penh, said yesterday that she welcomed the project. She said she would stop commuting by car and switch to public transportation if it proved cheap, fast and easy.
Another Phnom Penh resident, Sok Naychorn, said he was happy to hear about the proposal but was unsure whether City Hall would succeed. “I will wait and see whether the City Hall officials can do their project or not. If it has this kind of public transportation, it will be good for our country,” he said.
Preap Chanvibol, director of the land transport department at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, said yesterday that a robust public transportation system could reduce traffic and the number of accidents.
4 comments:
The Phnom Penh authorities should send study teams to industrialised countries like Belgium and Holland. Both these countries are generally flat like much of the Cambodian plains, making it ideal for commuting by traditional forms of transport like bicycles, especially, for local journeys.
Cycling has economic and environmental benefits - sparing fuel and maintenance costs of using motorised transport, reducing congestions and traffic accidents, curbing air pollution, and of course, a healthy daily exercise!
Even at the time of UNTAC in 1993 when few people could afford motorbikes and cars, cycling (as I did on a rusty Russian bicycle!) was generally not seen as a good or positive thing. This is to do with cultural attitude and social status Khmers attach to one who peddles to and fro. Cars, for example, like houses are owned/built to reflect personal social standing in society; so the larger the car and the bigger the house or villa, the greater the status.
Social attitudes of this kind will take time to change, but in the meantime, municipal authorities must create conditions and provide incentives for people to adapt to what will be in the majority's benefit.
Phnom Penh is expanding due to demographic changes, yet it is still relatively small compared to other countries' capital cities. Most of the pedestrians seen about the city are mostly foreigners. Walking and strolling, like cycling afford one opportunities to absorb and savour the scenery, whilst doing nothing to pollute the environment or contribute to accidents happening.
In other words, urban planning should be green driven and oriented. A green and clean city will also be a magnet for tourists and a healthy, vibrant harmonious place for all to live in.
Tram lines or links maybe better for Phnom Penh (the experts will decide!). Trams are generally more user-friendly, and green to operate. There should be separate cycling lanes along boulevards and sufficient pedestrian walkways. Many city dwellers since 1979 tend to push outward their residential boundaries until their walls and fences meet the kerb of the road or into areas once had been marked for pedestrians/pavements.
The incumbent Phnom Penh governor has been rightly credited with some fine effort to upgrade the landscape of the capital city. I like his choice of lampposts (a vast improvement on those concrete poles that sprung up all over the Kingdom during Mr Chea Sophara's era, who was otherwise, a popular reformer), monuments erected in honour of national figures such as Buddhist Patriarch Chhuon Nath, as well as the Lady who founded and gave her name to Phnom Penh. On the minus side, Phnom Penh under present Governor (Kep Chutema) also witnessed the Diamond Bridge tragedy, the controversial evictions of many poor residents without adequate, fair recompense or compensation.
Boeung Kak Lake could have been a perfect natural location for the capital's major recreation park, instead of being leveled up with sand for commercial development. Until recently the area had already been a hub for back-packers and eco-tourists who prefered a less conventional form of tourist experience whilst they are in transit in the capital. Indeed, their presence or 'villages' had provided locals with a healthy income to live on - something the state could not offer them.
All City Bus Co. must fine$$, held responsiblities for throwing trashes on all every Bus stop throughout cambodia...Its disgusting and embarrass to all foreigners who came to visit cambodia..
Every Bus Stop must have cleaning services crew picking up trashes, i've seen people throwing plastic bags all over the ground...No body seem to care? Some guy even stood there and urinate against the fence..It's disgusting!!
LAW in Cambodia is useless...
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