Road Building On Koh Trong

As you leave Kratie town and travel into rural areas in all directions the roads quickly become dusty tracks. It is rare for there to be a concrete road other than the main highways.

Koh Trong is no exception but the island is gradually becoming fully paved. The main roads on the eastern and southern sides of the island are fully paved. The majority of the western road is dirt but is currently seeing some construction work.

Each year the city council of Kratie provide funds to build 600m of road - this is then allocated to different areas of the island in varying lengths. However the local residents still have to pay around 10% of the overall cost each year in order to have the requisite funds.

The roads are constructed in lengths of a anywhere between 50m and 200m. Before work begins piles of sand and shingle are laid out along the route. The workmen then use 3m sections of boarding to make a frame for the concrete which is mixed and poured in situ. Each section is 1.5 m wide, and leaving a gap of 3 m the next part of the road is framed and concrete poured. This process is repeated and in a day 3 or 4 sections are made. The following day the gaps created in-between the new sections are constructed thus linking all the short sections together.

The first roads were built back in 2009 so the process is fairly stop start and will take a few more years before the 9 km of roads are fully sealed. Once the entire island is paved the next job is to widen the existing roads to 3 m.

Although the dirt roads do give areas of the island a very rural and timeless feel, the benefits of the paved roads with regards to dust and ease of transport is a massive boost to the local people.

At the end of a hard day's work the only blemish for the worker's is the obligatory trail of dog paw prints. However last week were were told that despite the best efforts to stop them, a tourist cycled straight from the dry path into the wet concrete section.