Siem Reap province

THE Apsara Authority yesterday agreed to make 55 more Angkor Thom vendors eligible for a relocation lottery, and assured all affected vendors that they would receive a steady flow of tourists at their new site.

Chrun Sophal, director of the authority’s communications department, said earlier this week that 52 vendors stationed on the southern side of Bayon temple, near the Angkor Thom gateway and near Phimeanakas temple would need to move because they were causing damage by “throwing dirty water onto the ground”. But the other vendors, he said, were not eligible because they did not own their stalls.

Yesterday, however, Prim Virak, director of the authority’s public order and cooperation department, said all 107 vendors would be allowed to participate.

Officials are set to begin measuring plots of land at a temporary site, located 500 metres away, on Monday. Prum Virak said it would take a “long time” to identify a suitable permanent site.

Though vendors have expressed concern that they will be cut off from tourists at the temporary site, Mey Marady, the authority’s deputy director for tourism, said officials would help drive tourists their way.

“We will post signs for tourists to walk through that place,” he said.