The Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) had set a target of building and constructing 850 national and provincial roads with a length of more than 20,000 km by end 2023, with the roads been paved with rubber and concrete.The Ministry held a meeting to review the work results of 2023 and work directions for 2024 yesterday under the theme of ‘Strengthen Human Resource Development, Construction Quality, Infrastructure, Legal Development and Standards, Service Delivery and use of Digital Technology.’ Minister of Public Works, Peng Ponea, said the Ministry built and constructed 850 national and provincial roads with a length of 20,016 km, with 11,285 km paved with rubber and concrete or 56.38% of the total road length. The Ministry constructed and completed nine level one national roads with a total length of 22,054 kilometres. “There was construction of 72 level two national roads with a total length of 51, 35.8 kilometres and paved 3,930 kilometres, or 76.54% of the total road length,” he added. “Along with construction of 769 provincial roads with a total length of 12,626 kilometres and paved 5,100 kilometres, or 40.39% of the total road length,” he added. At the opening ceremony, he did not specify the reasons for the failure to achieve their goal, nor did he specify the total budget spent on road construction and rehabilitation projects, saying only the construction of roads and bridges, utilises the national budget and finance from various development partners. At present, the Ministry is in the process of constructing roads and bridges with financing from development partners. Seven national roads with a total length of 575.29 km, including national road No.7, length 45.48 km, National Road No. 10, length 198.51 km, National Road No. 31, length 53.39 km, National Road No. 33, length 52.57 km, National Road No. 41, length 95.29 km, National Road No. 71c, length 101.36 km and a 31.69 km long road is funded by China, Ponea said. The Ministry held a meeting to review the work results of 2023 and work directions for 2024 yesterday under the theme of ‘Strengthen Human Resource Development, Construction Quality, Infrastructure, Legal Development and Standards, Service Delivery and use of Digital Technology.’ Minister of Public Works, Peng Ponea, said the Ministry built and constructed 850 national and provincial roads with a length of 20,016 km, with 11,285 km paved with rubber and concrete or 56.38% of the total road length. The Ministry constructed and completed nine level one national roads with a total length of 22,054 kilometres. “There was construction of 72 level two national roads with a total length of 51, 35.8 kilometres and paved 3,930 kilometres, or 76.54% of the total road length,” he added. “Along with construction of 769 provincial roads with a total length of 12,626 kilometres and paved 5,100 kilometres, or 40.39% of the total road length,” he added. At the opening ceremony, he did not specify the reasons for the failure to achieve their goal, nor did he specify the total budget spent on road construction and rehabilitation projects, saying only the construction of roads and bridges, utilises the national budget and finance from various development partners. At present, the Ministry is in the process of constructing roads and bridges with financing from development partners. Seven national roads with a total length of 575.29 km, including national road No.7, length 45.48 km, National Road No. 10, length 198.51 km, National Road No. 31, length 53.39 km, National Road No. 33, length 52.57 km, National Road No. 41, length 95.29 km, National Road No. 71c, length 101.36 km and a 31.69 km long road is funded by China, Ponea said.Also, China has funded the construction of two bridges with a total length of 2,606.70 metres, including the 1,761-metre-long bridge across the Kratie River and the 845.7 metre Chak Angre Krom-Prek Pra bridge, he said. The Ministry is working on National Road No.5 from Serei Sophorn to Poipet city, with a length of 35.14 km, financed by the Japanese and the 148 km National Road No.48 is financed by South Korea. There are two national roads with a total length of 43.20 km, comprising National Road No.23, 19.83 km long and Provincial Road No.312, 23.37 km long funded by the ADB. The World Bank project comprises National Road No.4 with a length of 196.10 km, National Road No.7 with a length of 31.25 km and National Road No.73 with a length of 49.81 km, Provincial Road No.377 and No.377A with a length of 48.5 km. Kim Pagna, Director of the Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation, sees the government’s efforts to build national and provincial roads as a positive response to the increase in road users, also it eases traffic congestion and increases safety for road users.He sees that the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the Ministry of Rural Development have worked hard to build roads. “In addition to roads, the construction of bridges is also an important to facilitate traffic, such as reducing congestion and accidents,” he said. Kong Rattanak, Traffic and Road Safety researcher, said that roads that are built in accordance with technical standards and road safety rules, help to reduce traffic accidents.