A groundbreaking ceremony was held yesterday by the Ministry of Public Works to construct a $580,000 field laboratory at the Techo Sen Institute of Public Works and Transport. The two-storey laboratory, scheduled to be completed by March next year, will among other facilities have an Asphalt Test Lab, Concrete Test Lab, curing, storage and office rooms. It’s being built from the $580,000 grant given by South Korea’s Ministry of Land Management, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) through the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT). Public Works Minister Sun Chanthol expressed his gratitude to the MOLIT for providing the grant for the “Renewal Project of Road Construction and Management System in Cambodia” to the ministry and institute. He called on the technical council and road builders to ensure that there is proper implementation of quality control in the construction of new roads through training and research for the next generation. According to the ministry, Techo Sen Institute has received a $3.2 million grant from the “Road Construction System Management and Innovation Project in Cambodia” for a period of three years (2020-2023) focusing on the assistance of laboratory equipment for evaluating the quality of roads and to construct a field laboratory for study, research and quality testing of road materials. It said that it also aims to have an Automatic Survey Vehicle to collect road inventory and pavement condition data for road management software and technical training on road infrastructure that will help relevant officials. “The main goal of this project is to effectively build Cambodia’s road infrastructure by strengthening the management of the road system, training of senior experts, providing technical equipment and buildings, constructing field laboratories and strengthening cooperation between the two countries in the field of road infrastructure,” it said. Techo Institute currently has 191 first-generation students studying six majors in three departments – public works on roads, expressways, bridges, railways and ports, and wastewater systems; management of logistics, economics, land transport management and supply chain management skills; and ship skills and engine management skills. In January this year, the ministry in collaboration with the Education Ministry created a new engineering course for public works and transportation technical skills to build more efficient infrastructure and further growth. Chanthol said that he was confident that Cambodian students will have the capability and skills to build Cambodia’s transport infrastructure effectively and with high quality after graduating from this programme.