PHNOM Penh municipality has amended plans to build a flyover linking Russian Boulevard with the Boeung Kak lake development zone, officials said, in a bid to reduce the number of families affected.

According to the results of the monthly City Hall meeting on January 4, which was uploaded to the municipality’s website yesterday, the US$7 million flyover – set to displace 50 families – has been downgraded to a standard road that will only affect 19 families in the area.

The families, in  Village 3 of Daun Penh district’s Srah Chak commune, will be evicted at an undetermined date.

Ean Narin, acting director of the municipal Department of Public Works and Transport, confirmed yesterday that the planned 50-metre high, 400-metre long sky bridge, known as R6, will be replaced by a standard road.

He added that he did not know specifically when construction on the project would start, as it was still in the planning phase.

“This plan was changed to a simple street which is 30 metres wide because it will cut down on the number of resident’s houses that are affected,” he said. In a statement dated January 11 and posted on City Hall’s website today, Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema said the city would pay $8,000 in compensation to each of the 19 displaced households.

He added, however, that residents who were “stubborn-headed” and refused to leave would be taken to court.

Or Siheang, a 57-year-old villager who has a six-by-17-metre house along Russian Boulevard that will be destroyed by the proposed development, said that the $8,000 compensation offered was far from enough to buy a similar plot of land in Phnom Penh. 

“How can I accept such a small amount of money?” she said. “This amount of money can’t buy a good plot of land in Phnom Penh. I need the authorities to offer compensation of at least $40,000.”