A portion of road linking Battambang province to Serey Sophorn city of Banteay Meanchey province with a total length of 84.74 kilometres was put into official use.
The inauguration ceremony, organised in Thmar Kaul district of Battambang province, was presided over by Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and H.E. Mikami Masahiro, Ambassador of Japan to Cambodia.
Speaking on the occasion, Samdech Techo Hun Sen expressed his congratulations to the new infrastructure achievement linking the two northern provinces, the former battlefields.
According to H.E. Sun Chanthol, Senior Minister, Minister of Public Works and Transport, the Battambang-Serey Sophorn portion is one of the three portions of the US$500 million National Road No. 5 Improvement Project under an ODA loan from the Government of Japan.
The other two road portions are the Southern portion (Prek Kdam-Thlea Ma’am) of 135 kilometres long, and the central portion (Thlea Ma’am-Battambang and Serey Sophorn-Poipet) of 146 kilometre long.
National Road No. 5 is a strategic road linking Phnom Penh capital to the border with Thailand crossing the provinces of Kandal, Kampong Chhnang, Pursat, Battambang, and Banteay Meanchey. The road is part of the ASEAN Highway 1 (AH1) connecting Phnom Penh, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh city, and a key economic corridor of ASEAN and the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press