The cabinet on Tuesday gave nod to an almost fourfold increase in the number of buses and cargo trucks licensed to ply the Thai-Cambodian borders.

With the approval, Thai transport authorities will seal a memorandum of understanding with their Cambodian counterparts soon to bring the number of vehicles of each country to 150.

Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said the increase was in line with the Greater Mekong Subregion Cross-Border Transport Facilitation Agreement and both countries were in the process of raising the number to 500 each in the future.

The bilateral transport facilitation agreement reached four years ago allows 40 vehicles -- 35 trucks and five buses -- for each country.

With the raised quota, Thailand planned to deploy more trucks for cargo transport while Cambodia would operate more buses to promote tourism, the minister said.

The project involves two routes: Bangkok-Aranyaprathet-Poipet-Phnom Penh and Bangkok- Aranyaprathet-Poipet-Siem Reap which would also cover the Laem Chabang port to serve cargoes, he said.

On Tuesday the cabinet also approved a 4.19-billion-baht project to build a new 29-kilometre-long highway to connect Watthana Nakhon and Aranyaprathet districts of Thailand's Sa Kaeo province to Cambodia's Stung Bot area. The project includes a bridge to cross a border waterway, Phrom Hot, to facilitate road traffic between both countries.
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