Japan will lend $131 million to Cambodia to build a bridge across the Mekong River, in a move to facilitate the regional transport and trading, the Cambodian Information Center said on its website June 24. The bridge, which will be the longest across the Mekong River, is scheduled for completion by 2015, the center cited Japanese Ambassador to Cambodia Masafumi Kuroki as saying. It will be located at the town of Neak Leoung, southeast of the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said the bridge would help facilitate the transport among Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and China, and travelers will no longer have to use a ferry to cross the river at Neak Leoung. International donors pledged to fund $1.1 billion for Cambodia this year, beyond local government’s expectations, to support the country’s target of achieving 6% in economic growth for the year. At the first Mekong-Japan summit held last November, Japan pledged to provide JPY500 billion ($5.5 billion) for the five sub-Mekong countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam over the next three years.
