PM Cancels Elevated Expressway

[geovalin]

Khmer Times / Pav Suy

The construction of a controversial expressway slated to run along the railroad from Phnom Penh’s city center to the international airport was cancelled by Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday, with the premier basing his decision on the numerous protests by residents who would have been displaced by the project.

Mr. Hun Sen took a moment during his speech inaugurating City Hall’s new administrative building to address the issue. In reference to the protesters who had all been living along the city’s abandoned railway, the prime minister urged state institutions to cooperate with Phnom Penh City Hall to officially grant land titles to residents who had been living on state-owned land in the capital for an extended period of time.

He added that those plots of land should be removed from the state’s inventory by the end of this year.

“I would like to announce today, please brothers and sisters living along the railway from Phnom Penh to Pochentong, stop protesting and stop demanding a public forum be held. I won’t let such an expressway be built, to avoid difficulty,” the premier said during his speech.

“There is nothing achieved, yet they protested and demanded a public forum be held. Now if we don’t build it, there is no need to hold the public forum because [we] won’t know what to talk about.”

The announcement came after the fourth protest by residents in front of the Transport Ministry, during which they demanded a public forum be held to air issues concerning the vagueness of the expressway’s development plan. The new expressway was announced by the prime minister on January 5 and people living along the railway have been asking for a public forum on the project ever since.

Before its cancelation, three foreign companies were allegedly interested in managing the project.

“I am happy that the government cancelled the expressway plan,” said Village 16 representative Neang Phanith, adding that he did not actually oppose the planned development, but simply liked that the government was acting transparently and was not perpetuating people’s suffering.

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