Cambodia to provide free bus service for upcoming Pchum Ben festival

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Monday ordered the Phnom Penh Municipality to prepare free buses to transport people to their hometowns for the Pchum Ben festival, or the Ancestor's Day, which will be observed on Sept. 24, 25, and 26. "The move is to facilitate people's travel to their hometowns and to prevent private bus companies and taxi drivers from raising fees during the holiday period," he said in a voice message.

In response to the prime minister's order, Phnom Penh Municipal governor Khuong Sreng said the city hall would use 175 city buses to ferry people from the capital to provinces and vice versa for free-of-charge on Sept. 23-27. Dozens of the city buses, which will be in service for passengers during the upcoming festival, were donated by the Chinese government in July 2017.

In the message, Hun Sen also called on people to continue complying with health safety protocols during the holiday, although the Southeast Asian nation has recorded a single-digit of COVID-19 cases in recent days. Cambodia reported a daily record of nine new local COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the national case tally to 137,719, with 134,590 recoveries and 3,056 deaths, the health ministry said, adding that no new deaths have been registered since April.

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