PHNOM PENH -- Some 83,900 vehicles have traveled on the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway during the New Year holiday, starting from Saturday to Monday, a senior Cambodian official said on Tuesday. Heang Sotheayuth, spokesperson and director general of Technology and Public Relations at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, said the expressway received 21,900 vehicles on Saturday, 28,900 on Sunday and 33,100 on Monday. "A large number of vehicles had traveled on the expressway during the holiday, and this proves that this expressway is a potential route for economy, tourism and trade," he told Xinhua. "With the expressway, Sihanoukville has become a tourist hotspot." Invested by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) in an amount of 2 billion U.S. dollars, the 187-km expressway connects the capital Phnom Penh with the international deep-water seaport city of Sihanoukville.The expressway was officially opened to traffic in November 2022.According to the Cambodian PPSHV Expressway Co., Ltd., the operator of the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway, almost 5.2 million vehicles traveled on the expressway in the first year of its commercial operations. Sotheayuth said the expressway has played a crucial role in enhancing the efficiency of travel and logistic systems in Cambodia and that it is a strategic road for the kingdom to boost trade exchanges with other countries. "Traveling on the expressway has saved both fuel and time and is considerably safer than traveling on ordinary roads," he said. The expressway is the fruit of close cooperation between Cambodia and China under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), he added. With two lanes for traffic in each direction plus an emergency lane on each side and paved with asphalt concrete, vehicles will be able to reach their destinations within two hours through the expressway instead of five hours on National Road 4.