Ministry of Environment decides to move office again
The Ministry of Environment will relocate its offices to a plot of land near NagaWorld Hotel and Casino in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district after its planned new headquarters in Meanchey district were declared too far from the city’s center by the new environment minister, an official said Monday. The ministry is currently located on Sihanouk Boulevard in Chamkar Mon’s Tonle Bassac commune, but was supposed to move to a custom-built office on a 9,000-square-meter plot of land on National Road 1 in the city’s distant Meanchey district after it swapped the land with an unknown company. Now, the ministry has decided to move to a 5,000-square-meter plot of land about 1.5 km away, said Sao Sopheap, cabinet chief to recently appointed Environment Minister Say Sam Al. “The Ministry of Environment will begin constructing its location next month along the Bassac River near Koh Pich,” Mr. Sopheap said. … Mr. Sopheap said the ministry returned the not-yet-complete building on National Road 1 to Ratana Cooperation and Construction, the company contracted to construct the building. … After the change to Meanchey district was announced, staff at the Ministry of Environment complained that the location was too far from the city center and wondered why they would not be paid more to cover transportation costs, particularly because the government was expected to earn a lucrative sum for swapping its prime real estate. At the time, in 2012, the ministry’s original location on Sihanouk Boulevard was worth between $9.6 million and $12 million. It was unclear Monday what would happen to that prime location once the ministry moves opposite NagaWorld. …
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-of-environment-decides-to-move-office-again-53144/
