Plans to excavate in capital dug up
A LARGE-SCALE digging project is taking place in the capital in seeming direct contradiction of a longstanding government ban on the practice, a letter obtained by The Post and first-hand observation by reporters suggests.
In the letter dated February 17, Phnom Penh City Governor Pa Socheatvong informs Por Sen Chey district authorities that the municipality has granted permission to a woman named Kem Sotheary to remove soil from an area of Prey Roieng village. The approval comes after a February 2 request by Sotheary for permission to sell and deliver soil.
Sotheary was one of two people swept up in a Ministry of Mines and Energy crackdown last September after she was seen illegally digging in Por Sen Chey district.
The incident prompted Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem at the time to ask Socheatvong to stop issuing licences for businesses to dig in the city.
The government had already officially banned digging for the purposes of selling soil in the capital in 2005.
Phloeung Chheh Roteh commune chief Korng Rom yesterday said the area that is to be filled is currently a rice field but maintained the digging hadn’t started yet. He added that the land where the soil will be taken from belongs to Sotheary.
“The place where they dig the soil is very far from the CONTINUED
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