Kampot. The huge ‘canyon’ at the NR3, in Prektong Village, Tick Ta Commune, Prey Nub District (ភូមិព្រែកទង សង្កាតើទឺកថា) has been repaired, according to our observation at 5PM of today 3 August, less than 18 hours after we did this post. I wonder if it would be repaired at the same speed if it were in the Kampot territory.
Spectacular canyon at the middle of National Headway 3
2 August 2012. The name National Headway 3 seems an ideal to reach than a fact. Evidently, it has improved along the last decade, but it is a very poor road. The contrast is the stunning hill headway built to reach the Bokor new casino. The road ascending the Bokor Mountain is a big investment and it starts just at NH3. Kampot is, without doubt, the province with the worse roads in Cambodia and we are talking about a province only two hours at the south of Phnom Penh. There is a good way to prove this conclusion: when you cross the limits of the province to Kep or to Kompong Saom, you notice that the roads at those two provinces are quite good and there is, the most important part, maintenance.
A car crossing the hole at NR3 on the night of 1 August 2012.
The NR3 becomes especially worse every raining season. After it, you can see repairs with a very low level of engineering and investment. Holes appear and disappear along the road as all the year.
This raining season the decease of the bad NR3 in its Kampot part seems to contaminate the Kompong Saom one. From the limit Kampot-Sihanoukville to Veal Renh at the National Road 4, I counted six areas of big potholes this year. The worse one is the authentic canyon in a spot known as Prektong Village, Tick Ta Commune, Prey Nub District (ភូមិព្រែកទង សង្កាតើទឺកថា).
The most worrying is that there is material around the thumping hole that seems to be brought by the municipality in order to fill it. Well, it is already more than two weeks the hole is growing more and more thanks to the monsoon. The material became a part of the problem, because it creates hills to give a canyon aspect to the place just at the middle of a highway.
The people of the village said that the problem is there for days without any action from the municipality. Are we waiting for an accident? Tonight I almost hit one of the dark hills.
See it for yourself.
Do you know any big hole on the middle of a Cambodian road?
Make it famous. Report it. Send me photos and descriptions.
