Hun Sen says to demolish market stalls

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The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 03 August 2009
Chhay Channyda

PRIME Minister Hun Sen has ordered that 15 stalls built in a controversial location at the main market in Preah Sihanouk province be demolished.

The premier gave the order after visiting Psar Leu in Sihanoukville on Saturday night and Sunday morning. His intervention followed protests from vendors at the market who said the new stalls restricted access to the market.

The chief of Commune Four in Sihanoukville, Khoun Sarun, said the rebuilding of the market following a 2008 fire had just recently been completed. She credited the premier with contributing US$400,000 to the effort, which led to the construction of 1,100 stalls.

She said the 15 stalls in question had been constructed outside the market zone.

"The authorities built more stalls outside the market, and people objected to that," she said. "Now the prime minister has ordered them to be removed."

Victory for vendors
Sok Cheat, 37, who sells groceries at the market, said vendors went to protest outside Hun Sen's Preah Sihanouk residence after hearing he was staying there.

"We knew he was here so we wanted to meet him, because the extra stalls built at Psar Leu had made the area too narrow," Sok Cheat said.
Rice seller Hau Leang applauded Hun Sen's intervention.

"I was crying all day and night because I couldn't make money selling rice inside the market," she said, explaining that stalls built in the parking lot had effectively cut off access to her own stall.

"Some customers just stopped outside to buy their food."

Sbong Sarath, the governor of Preah Sihanouk province, could not be contacted Sunday. The deputy chief of Hun Sen's Cabinet, Lim Leang Se, said he was in Phnom Penh and did not know about the order.

Vendors take their case to the premier

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Photo by: Tracey Shelton
Vendors from Tonloab market in Takeo province protest outside the Takhmao home of Prime Minister Hun Sen on Sunday. The vendors said authorities confiscated vans they had hired for the trip, forcing them to walk more than 30 kilometres to the site.

The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 03 August 2009
May Titthara

Tonloab market sellers protest despite alleged threats

AFTER their vans were confiscated by authorities, market vendors from Takeo province travelled more than 30 kilometres on foot to the Takhmao house of Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday to urge him to intervene in a dispute with the market's owner, several vendors told the Post Sunday.

The Tonloab market vendors said Takeo provincial authorities confiscated seven vans that the group of 130 protesters had hired to get to the prime minister's house.

The decision to stage the protest came after a district governor on Thursday allegedly warned a market representative at gunpoint not to travel there.

"Even though the authorities tried to ban us, we came to Phnom Penh, and yesterday we arrived at the PM's house," vendor Nhen Pros said.

"We want him to help us because the market owner broke his promise."

Vendors said the owner of the market told them to leave their stalls while it underwent maintenance work. When the vendors went to reclaim their stalls, they said, the owner had already put them up for sale at a higher price.

Photo by: Tracey Shelton
Tonloab market vendors hold signs and pictures of Prime Minister Hun Sen during a protest at his Takhmao home Sunday.

Nothing to 'worry about'
Lim Leang Se, deputy chief of Hun Sen's Cabinet, said Sunday he had told the vendors they could return home because there was nothing to "worry about".

"The people came to protest because they were afraid that they would lose business when the market owner paved the market. But now I have settled their problem and let them go back home," he said.

"After they finish the construction they can go back to their old place," he added.

But Bun Theng, another vendor, said she would not return home until the vendors met the prime minister.

"We want to see his face. We want him to help protect our right to sell at the location," she said.

In reference to the confiscation of the vans, Prak Sarann, the Adhoc provincial coordinator, said the authorities were using their power to restrict people's right to protest.

Cambodia tourist arrivals by sea rise 46% in first half

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http://english.people.com.cn

August 03, 2009

The number of foreign visitors to Cambodia by sea rose by 46 percent in the first six months of 2009 compared with the first half of last year, local media reported on Monday.

Numbers were up to 14,636, the Phnom Penh Post quoted Kong Sophearak, the director of the Ministry of Tourism's statistics department as saying, a rise he ascribed to the industry's strategy to link coastal and eco-tourism areas with Angkor Wat.

Kong Sophearak said the increase marked the beginning of the country's efforts to improve the number of arrivals by sea, with key infrastructure upgrades planned.

"The government has already decided to build a tourist port in Kep province and other centers in the country in an attempt to woo more tourists by sea," he said. Ministry statistics showed that 15 cruise ships arrived at Preah Sihanouk port via Thailand in the first six months of this year.

Just 23 cruise ships carrying 14,159 tourists docked at the port during the whole year of 2008.

"We hope that in the near future Kep province will have an attractive tourist port like other countries in the region," he said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen told the closing ceremony of the Tourism Conference last week that the ministry and the Council for the Development of Cambodia, which approves projects, ought to work with the private sector to implement approved tourism-related investments as rapidly as possible to bring in tourists.

Source:Xinhua