Forum Seeks to Improve Navigation of Mekong

A tangle of overlapping conventions and treaties makes sending cargo up the Mekong River a bu­reaucratic headache for shipping companies, river experts have said.

Eliminate those barriers, and lucrative business could come to Phnom Penh and cities further up­stream while lessening the transportation burden on Cambo­dia’s underdeveloped roadways, the experts said.

Today’s peace makes it easier than ever to fix those problems, said Joern Kristensen, head of the Mekong River Commission.

“Before 1975, the Mekong was the water highway that brought goods into Cambodia and took away what was produced. Condi­tions for restoring this passage have never been better than they are today,” Kristensen said.

The first step toward an easier- to-navigate river was a two-day conference sponsored by the MRC at the Hotel Cambodiana, where river experts from all six na­tions along the river talked about ways to speed transportation.

The participants drew up a set of recommendations for future talks before adjourning Thurs­day.

Navigation has long been a cherished goal for developers along the Mekong, known for its rocky and unpassable stretches. Environmentalists have warned that removing shoals and rapids, as some have proposed, could have disastrous effects on fisheries, however.

But even before physical barriers are removed, numerous other problems make it difficult for ships to ply the waterway.

Navigation of the Mekong is made more difficult by a patchwork of conventions and treaties spanning back 75 years.

Unnecessary delays at borders, fees and tariffs levied for no apparent reason and a confusing array of rules make it an “un­usually” difficult river to navigate, said Eric van Hooydonk, a law pro­fessor at the University of An­twerp and a conference participant.

“It is a mess of international conventions which are not coordinated,” Hooydonk said. Mean­while, the Mekong is undervalued as a route of transporting car­go and people, he added.

An example: A simple trip up to Phnom Penh from the coast should take only 16 hours, but it can take up to two and a half days because, among other reasons, the river buoys don’t have lights. When darkness falls, boat captains have to moor until sunrise.