City Hall Announces Development Plans for New Road

KHMER TIMES
PECH SOTHEARY

A map of the planned road. Supplied

City Hall yesterday announced the preparation of infrastructure for a controversial road construction project in the Boeung Kak area near the Alserkal Grand Mosque, the largest mosque in the Kingdom, to avoid traffic jams and flooding in the area.

The pilot project, inveiled in 2012, plans to pave a road from Tuol Kork to Monivong Boulevard through the mosque’s land, with City Hall stating that the plan had been approved by landholders Osman Hassan, secretary of state at the Ministry of Labor, and Van Matt, president of the Cambodian Association of Muslims.

But some within the Muslim community have opposed the project, claiming it would disrupt services at the mosque and ruin the peacefulness of the area. An inter-family squabble about the land deal lead to a defamation case last month between two senior ruling party officials.

In a public forum at the mosque on the Beoung Kak area development with about 200 people in attendance, Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong said the government needed to improve drainage, electricity and water before the proposed new road is built to serve the interests of citizens as the area only had one road that floods in the rainy season.

“We must prepare because in this area, we cannot say it’s a benefit to mosque members or to the Boeung Kak community only. The area is a common area that needs development, so we need to understand each other in order to make the area better. It’s good if we can build this road,” he said.

Mr. Socheatvong added that if the construction affected people’s land or the mosque at any point, authorities would provide an area of land in an alternate location instead.

He also requested citizens and Muslims to create a separate commission of between five and seven people to join with local authorities to discuss the development of the area.

Chan Puthisak, a citizen representative in Pram Mouy village, said to support the development people needed water, electricity and drainage systems for basic living. He asked City Hall to expedite negotiations with remaining holdouts, giving them land titles and dropping charges against local communities.

“We build houses, so we need water, drainage and electricity systems and roads for proper living,” he said.

Dy Sathya, from Pram Mouy village, also supported development and the proposed road as the community faced flooding in the rainy season and heavy traffic on Fridays when Muslims went to the mosque.

Muslim Rum Ly asked municipal authorities to explain the project clearly and negotiate with the Muslim community before development begins.

However, City Hall did not allow land rights activist Nget Khun to attend the forum, which caused a brief argument between Boeung Kak community representatives who accepted compensation with Ms. Khun’s family.