RESIDENTS in Prey Veng province’s Peam Chor district are urging authorities to unblock a local canal, claiming it has made it difficult for them to take their children to school.

Villagers are asking Koh Sampov commune authorities to help reopen the Prek Tachan canal, which has been closed for more than a month for unknown reasons.

Sorn Heap, 32, a villager from Ampil Prey village, said that more than 200 villagers from his village use boats on the canal to send their children to school.

“The place where it is blocked is a straight route to schools, so children only take 30 minutes to get to school. Now they have to use detour routes, which are far and shallow,” he said.

He added that roads are often bumpy and flooded, so most people have opted to keep their children at home.

Another villager said that the waterway is also used as a trade route in Koh Sampov commune.

“I want commune authorities to help open this canal for us because villagers have no way to travel when the village is flooded,” she said.

Koh Sampov commune chief Preap Hoeun could not be reached on Thursday. Huy Chim, deputy chief of Ampov Prey village, said he was aware

of people’s complaints, but that “the alternate route is not as far as people say it is”.

He said he will discuss the issue with commune authorities to resolve the problem.