The general Cambodian public is hardly aware of the current situation of river transport in Cambodia. In fact, the Law on Inland Water Transport was just enacted in March and came into force in April this year, just a few months ago. This shows how nascent river transport in Cambodia is.
It is obvious for everyone to see and come to such a conclusion. You don’t need an advanced satellite system, a scientific observatory, or spend millions of dollars on water, ecology, or transport consultants or researchers to come to this conclusion. What you need to do is to observe with your naked eyes, while enjoying a sip of coffee in any café located along the river, the general traffic of boats coming and going in front of the Royal Palace.
Amid the cool breeze from the monsoon rains that have begun to cool the city, you can see how basic or underutilized Cambodia’s inland water transport system is. Looking back at history, Khmer former kings were strategic to choose Phnom Penh as a new capital. Old history that Cambodians used to learn at school was that, among other reasons, Khmer kings chose Phnom Penh to avoid constant attacks from Siam or Thailand.
But recently, many studies have highlighted the vibrant international trade activities that flow through Phnom Penh at the junction of four rivers, hence the name Chaktomuk river or four-sided river, comprising the Upper Mekong, Lower Mekong, Tonle Sap River and Bassac River. Udong and Longvek, which were also ancient capitals, ar.