Two of the twenty five major provincial government departments housed in the ill-fated Administrative City will move into the building that houses the Apsara Authority headquarters in the “very near future,” Deputy governor Bun Tharith told the Insider on Monday, adding that he could not specify the exact date of relocation.

He explained that because the Apsara Authority headquarters is only a relatively small building, only two departments could make the move, these being the Department of Education and Sport and the Siem Reap Provincial Hall.

He also confirmed what until Monday had only been rumour – that all staff from Apsara Authority headquarters would in turn be shunted out to the Admin City.

He said the changes are based on the letter from the Council of Ministers No. 1504, dated August 12, 2013, following the announcement by Tea Banh, deputy prime minister and minister of national defense, on April 29.

Bun Tharith said, “We had a meeting on Thursday last week and discussed the relocation of Siem Reap Administrative City to the Apsara Authority headquarters.

“But because the Apsara Authority headquarters are too small to house all the departments moving from the Administrative City, new office buildings will have to be constructed.”

Vacant land at the southern and western ends of the Angkor Gyeongju roundabout near Apsara Authority Headquarters is under consideration.

The ungainly and perhaps experimental office-complex design at the Administrative City – where departments are housed in one-storey buildings separated from each other by about 20 metres – will be scrapped when building offices on the new site.

“We do not want to construct in the same style as before,” Bun Tharith said, “So for the new site we will construct many storeys and all departments will be close to each other.”

News of the move was greeted with jubilance by Admin City staff, and one government official, speaking anonymously, said he was delighted with the relocation although he has to wait. He added that working at the Siem Reap Administrative City was fraught with difficulties.

Bun Tharith also acknowledged that Apsara Authority staff would face difficulties in making the move to their new office, especially because the traveling distance will increase significantly.

“but on May, Siem Reap governor Khim Bun Song ordered a shortcut road to the Admin City be completed to cut travel distance for Apsara staff to about 10 kilometres.

Bun Tharith said, “This road will provide a short cut to the Admin City, and it’s not as busy a road as the National Road 6, so Apsara officials will feel confident about road safety.”