Fireworks marked the groundbreaking event on August 5 for a 180-kilometer (112-mile) canal that will be carved through Cambodia’s eastern regions, a megaproject billed by the government as an economic necessity that will allow the country to “breathe.”
The €1.5 billion ($1.64 billion) Funan Techo canal will link the Mekong River near the capital Phnom Penh to two new deep-water ports on the Gulf of Thailand.
“We must build this canal at all costs,” said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet at the groundbreaking ceremony, according to local media.
In full: https://www.dw.com/en/cambodia-rulers-pin-reputation-on-contentious-canal-project/a-69870267
