United States officials and senior Cambodian military officers flew to the country's northwest yesterday to discuss the re-opening of Route 10 - the country's most deadly highway - linking government-controlled and former Khmer Rouge territory.
The highway stretches for 80 kilometres between Cambodia's second-largest city, Battambang, and the former Khmer Rouge headquarters of Pailin, the country's richest gem and logging centre.
Kenneth Quinn, US Ambassador to Cambodia, who led the US delegation, said his Government wanted to assist in the route's reconstruction as 'a priority project to keep alive the Cambodian peace process'.
'We are here today because we recognise the importance of this road . . . it is the road to making peace a reality,' the Ambassador said. 'This road will spread democracy and a better way of life, which will ensure that the Khmer Rouge can never come to power again in Cambodia.' Aid experts estimate the cost of refurbishing the highway could reach US$16 million (HK$124 million) and said they were keen to fund local contractors and non-governmental organisations to start working 'as development partners'.
Route 10 has been impassable since 1989, but mass defections of Khmer Rouge fighters in Pailin and the northwest means it can now be reopened.
Military experts said the highway, which passes through an area contested for over a decade by Khmer Rouge rebels and the Government, is the most heavily mined and booby-trapped stretch of road in Cambodia.
