Sand-Dredging Boats Active One Day After Ban Announced
Sand-dredging boats were active along the Mekong River in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district on Tuesday, despite the city’s municipal governor, Pa Socheatvong, having ordered a complete suspension of dredging in the city the day before. Phnom Penh City Hall on Monday put in place the temporary ban on all dredging in response to what it said was an overabundance of unlicensed firms dredging river sand in the capital. … But on a dredging boat in Meanchey district’s Niroth commune Tuesday, Touch Sovann, 30, said that he was busy dredging sand as usual for a firm called Sok Hong. … A kilometer away along National Highway 1, excavators and trucks awaited sand being pumped 500 meters through pipes from the Mekong for a firm workers identified as Sok Ly. … City Hall’s Mr. [Long] Dimanche said Tuesday that he was not aware of continued dredging in Phnom Penh but that serious action would be taken against firms that dredged during the ban. …
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sand-dredging-boats-active-one-day-after-ban-announced-39522/
