캄보디아 이야기 183 | 캄보디아 6번 국도의 붉은 안개 - 중국의 캄보디아 사회 기반 시설 적극 투자

캄보디아 6번 국도의 붉은 안개 - 중국의 캄보디아 사회 기반 시설 적극 투자

 

캄보디아 6번 국도의 붉은 안개

 

 

캄보디아에서는 현재 수도 프놈펜과 세계문화유산 앙코르와트가 위치한 시엠립을 연결하는 6번 국도 확장 공사 사업이 진행 중에 있다.

 

이 공사는 기존의 폭 7m 도로를 최소 폭 12m ~ 최대 25m로 넓히는 것으로, 프놈펜의 르쎄이 께오 군부터 껌뽕짬의 번띠어이 구 구역까지의 6번 국도는 중국의 저리 차관(low interest loan) 7,025만 달러로, 캄보디아 동부에 위치한 깜뽕짬 지방 바티 지구에서 북서부의 시엠립 지방에 이르는 6A 도로는 중국 정부의  양허성 차관(Concessional Loan) 2억 4,800만 달러로 부담한다. 시공은 상하이 건설사가 맡아 38개월 내 완공될 예정이다(기공식:2012년 2월 14일).

 

 

 

 

 

6A 국도 확장공사가 완료되면 이 도로가 캄보디아에서는 최장 거리의 최신식 도로가 될 것이다. 현재까지 중국은 캄보디아에서 총 2,000km의 타르 포장도로를 건설함으로써 캄보디아의 도로 개발 부문에서 최대 공여국이 되었다. 게다가 강을 가로지르는 7 곳의 다리 역시 중국의 원조에 힘입어서 현재 완공됐거나 건설 중에 있다.

 

중국은 캄보디아 도로와 교량 건설 및 관개 시스템 구축에 가장 큰 원조를 하며 캄보디아의 사회 경제적 발전을 위한 기술, 재정적 지원을 아끼지 않는 동시에 캄보디아 내 투자자들로 하여금 캄보디아의 사회기반시설 투자에 적극 동참하도록 하고 있다. ('뉴스 브리핑 캄보디아' 참고)

 

 

 

 

한편, 나는 단기봉사팀과 함께 시엠립 문화 탐방을 가기 위하여 최근 한 달간 두 차례 프놈펜ㅡ시엠립 간 이 6번 국도를 여행하였는데, 이 도로 확장 공사가 진행되는 과정 중 차량들이 지나갈 때마다 만들어내는 붉은 먼지 바람은 통행 차량 운전자의 가시성을 저하시킬 뿐만 아니라 주변 마을을 온통 붉은색으로 물들여놓고 있었다.

 

 

 

 

그래도 이 정도 볼 수 있다는 것은 약 20일 전에 비하면 사정이 많이 나아진 것.

 

첫 번째 여정이었던 1월 26일만 하더라도 붉은색 흙이 만들어내는 안개에 가시성이 너무 떨어지고 도로가 울퉁불퉁하여 차들이 속도를 내지 못하여 버스보다 빠른 벤으로 이동하였음에도 불구하고 시엠립에 당도하는 시간이 예상보다 길어졌었는데, 약 보름 후 두 번째 여정이었던 2월 12일에는 그간 공사가 상당 부분 진행되고 정리가 되어 별다른 막힘없이 시엠립에 빨리 도착할 수 있었다.

 

오늘 2월 15일에는 Giant Ibis 버스를 타고 프놈펜에 다시 돌아왔는데, Capitol 같은 일반버스에 비하여 좋은 버스를 타서 그런지는 몰라도 오늘 길이 너무 편리하여 쾌적하여 더더욱 놀랐다.

 

이 정도 수준이라면 프놈펜ㅡ시엠립 간을 차량으로 여행하는 사람들의 수가 앞으로 더욱 급증하게 될 듯.

 

도로가 편리해지면 각종 운송, 수송업 및 거점 도시의 산업이 더욱 발달할 것이고, 6번 국도는 태국과도 통하는 길이기 때문에 국가 간 왕래 및 무역도 한층 활발해질 것으로 예상된다.

 

캄보디아 총리는 중국이 캄보디아 도로와 교량 건설에 가장 큰 원조를 하고 있다고 말하며, 오늘날 이루고 있는 모든 성과가 시하누크 국왕과 과거 중국 지도자인 마오쩌뚱, 류사오치, 저우언라이 등 캄보디아와 중국 지도자들 간의 긴밀한 관계의 산물이라고 말한 바 있다.

 

중국은 캄보디아의 이러한 사회기반시설뿐만 아니라 보건 등 사회 문화적 인프라를 구축해 나가는 데에 있어서도 많은 투자를 아끼고 있지 않고 있는데, 중국ㅡ캄보디아ㅡ베트남 간 관계 및 동남아시아에서의 세력을 확장하며 미국을 견제하고 있는 중국의 영향력이 어떠한 모습으로 펼쳐지게 될지 궁금해진다.

 

 

 

 

 

한편, 붉은 흙먼지로 인하여 주변 가옥 및 식물들의 색이 변해버린 6A 국도의 한마을.

 

아래의 영문 기사를 보면 도로 확장 공사가 가져다주는 붉은 흙먼지가 주민들의 호흡기 질환, 피부염, 지역 경제 등 생활 전반에 심각한 영향을 미치고 있지만, 캄보디아 정부는 중국 건설회사의 시공에만 관심이 있기 때문에 주민들은 속수무책, 아무것도 할 수 없는 답답한 상황을 알 수 있다.

 

15 Feb 2014

 

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Life as Living Nightmare Along National Route 6a

BY HUL REAKSMEY AND SIMON HENDERSON | JANUARY 31, 2014

 

PHNOM PENH/KANDAL PROVINCE – Two years after Prime Minister Hun Sen broke ground on a Chinese-funded project to widen National Road 6a in order to expand its capacity as a major trade and tourism thoroughfare, life for the tens of thousands of families living along the 50-km stretch of road has become a living nightmare.

 

Heavy trucks carrying earth and machinery have cut up the sandy red dirt into a billowing fog that reduces visibility on the road to a few meters, nearly obscuring the houses and storefronts along the roadside.

 

The cloud of blinding, choking dust hangs with few reprieves over the entire journey from Phnom Penh through Kandal to Kompong Cham province.

 

The project to expand National Road 6a from a 7-meter-wide road to a 26-meter-wide highway began in early 2012, with Chinese company Shanghai Construction Group contracted on the back of $70.25 million in loans from China.

 

With the 50-km stretch of road scheduled for completion in early 2015, ground was broken in March 2013 on the next, much longer, 248-km stretch from Kompong Cham to Siem Reap.

When it is complete, the route will be the most modern and most important road in Cambodia, according to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

 

But, in the apocalyptic landscapes beyond Phnom Penh’s city limits, where the terrain of Route 6a at best resembles quarry paths in a mining town and at its worst the surface of Mars during a dust storm, it is difficult to picture the ultra-modern future Mr. Hun Sen evoked.

 

Many people living along the road feel that their lives are being forgotten at the expense of that promised progress.

 

“I understand that the road expansion is good for [the] future of the country, and the people, and I am happy to have a big road, but the time it is taking to build it is too long,” said 23-year-old Pich Srey Leakhana, who owns a small wholesale business on the outskirts of Phnom Penh in Russei Keo district’s Bak Kheng commune.

 

“I don’t understand why they have to do the whole road at the same time…without completing any of it,” she said, adding that she is trying to be patient, but that the road literally colors every aspect of her and her children’s lives now.

 

“I have to live with the dust every day. It’s in our mosquito nets, our pillows, and even our blankets are filled with dust,” she said, as she kicked at the sand carpeting the warehouse floor.

 

“Your eyes get filled with it. It is very difficult to ride a motorbike, but it is also difficult to breathe with so much dust flying around my own home,” said Ms. Srey Leakhana, adding that she believes her 1-year-old son’s frequent respiratory illnesses are due to breathing the dusty air every day since his birth.

 

In her small shop set back on the edge of the road’s new margin in Mok Kampoul district’s Russei Chroy commune in Kandal province, 48-year-old Ty Srey, a mother of five, said the only thing she knows about the project is the effect it is having on the community.

 

“Nobody has come to tell us when the construction will end, not the government and not the company,” she said, referring to one of the numerous companies subcontracted by Shanghai Construction to carry out the project.

 

“But our children are all ill because of lung problems and skin diseases. It is difficult to breathe and makes them tired, and these symptoms only occurred after the road construction began,” she said, adding that she visits the health center several times per month and spends between 50,000 and 70,000 riel each time (about $12.50 and $17.50).

 

“I have had to borrow money off the money lender” to pay for medical bills, Ms. Srey said.

 

The perpetuity of the massive dust cloud is impacting even those businesses that might ordinarily profit from cleaning it.

 

Vong Sar, a motorbike washer in a village in Kompong Cham province’s Batheay district, where the air is a hazy, orange hue every day, said that business was good along the road until the severity of the dust drove his clients away.

 

“Before the construction began, I made at least 20,000 to 30,000 riel [about $5 to $7.50] per day, but I get only about 10,000 riel [$2.50] now, because owners don’t want to clean their motorbikes, what is the point? Their motorbike will just get dirty again,” he said.

 

 

 

Nearby, a water-spraying truck dampened the ground a deep-red color to stanch the pluming dust, but it was one of only two such vehicles operating along the 50-km stretch of road.

 

The Shanghai Construction Group could not be reached for comment, while Cheng Hong Bo, who heads the Chinese Embassy’s political section, referred questions regarding the road project to two other officials within the embassy, neither of whom could be reached.

 

Workers at the few points along National Road 6a where construction was taking place on Tuesday, said that obstacles had slowed down their work.

 

“There are a lot of problems,” said one construction worker with Ly Chhuong Construction Company, which is in charge of building 18 km of the new road in Russei Keo district.

 

“First, the removal of water pipes and electricity cables took a long time to do,” said the worker, who declined to give his name because he did not want to be seen as criticizing his employer.

 

“Second, I think there are issues relating to negotiation and compensation for people who live here,” he said, referring to compensation payments to people who have lost land to the project.

 

A senior police official in Kandal province’s Mok Kampoul district, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that many families have moved away from the area entirely—as evidenced by the numerous “for rent” signs on properties along the roadside.

 

He laid blame squarely on the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.

 

“The ministry just allows the company to do whatever the company wants to do, because the ministry officials rarely come here to visit or to check on their work or the effects of the construction,” he said.

Sam Piseth, director of the Phnom Penh municipal public works and transport department, declined to comment on the social impact of the project.

 

But, Sok Sokun, director of the Phnom Penh municipal health department, said his staff had visited the area many times and claimed that there was nothing for families living among the billowing clouds of dust to worry about.

 

“Thanks to the immune system of human beings’ bodies, we have antibodies in our noses that fight viruses, which means there are no problems, nothing will become serious,” he said.

 

Returning to Phnom Penh through Russei Keo district’s Prek Liep commune, visibility clears but construction is idle, with shop fronts perched perilously over gorges of scooped out earth into which the new road will eventually extend.

 

For now, rickety wooden steps descend into the rubbish-filled pits to allow the shopkeepers—and customers—to bring and take away goods, which has been the way for the past year-and-a-half.

 

Shop owners there declined to speak about their hardships, as they said local government authorities had warned they would forfeit compensation if they were discovered to have complained to the media or NGOs about the road project.

 

District officials in Russei Keo also declined to comment on the impact to their community.

 

Sia Phearum, secretariat director of the NGO Housing Rights Task Force, said that his organization had met with many residents along the construction route who confessed they were afraid of losing promised compensation if they complained about the dust and dirt.

 

“We have a plan to help them, to help them understand their rights, but we can’t do anything until they come to us, and they are too afraid due to intimidation by authorities,” he said.

 

ⓒ 2014, The Cambodia Daily. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in print, electronically, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission.

 

 

(출처 : The Cambodia Daily http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/life-as-living-nightmare-along-national-route-6a-51156/)

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