Kampong Speu authorities have pulled over 56 lorries carrying sand and gravel. SUPPLIED Sangeetha Amarthalingam
Kampong Speu authorities have pulled over 56 lorries carrying sand and gravel for breaching agreements with the Ministry of Mines and Energy to mitigate the impact of such transportation on residents, Kampong Speu province police chief Sam Samuon said on Monday.
The agreements were made in meetings between the minister, Suy Sem, and mining company owners on March 18, last year. Samuon told The Post that the trucks had been impounded at the ministry’s provincial department after their drivers had failed to adhere to the agreements.
The authorities launched an operation to impound trucks whose drivers violated regulations, pending action by the provincial General Command Unit, Samuon said.
“We detained the trucks. The authorities handed them over to the provincial department of the Ministry of Mines and Energy. I don’t know whether the companies will be temporarily stripped of their mining licences,” Samuon said.
Yos Monirath, the director-general of the ministry’s General Department of Mineral Resources, declined to comment.
Ung Dipola, the deputy director-general of the General Department of Mineral Resources, led the ministry team that monitored mining and sand-dredging activities in Kampong Speu province’s Phnom Sruoch district, the ministry posted on Facebook on Thursday.
“The ministry decided to suspend the licences of offending companies for one week until March 18 as a warning. It can revoke their licences if the lesson is not learned,” Dipola said.
Binh Chivtong, provincial director at the Department of Mines and Energy, declined to comment on Monday.
However, a post on his Facebook page said some companies still failed to water roads, affecting the quality of life of those living along them with clouds of dust. The drivers also caused accidents and broke speed limits.
Last month Ministry of Environment secretary of state Neth Pheaktra convened an inter-ministerial meeting to review an environmental and social impact assessment report on the Five Sibling Expressmen Co Ltd company operating in Kampong Speu province’s Oudong district.
Pheaktra ordered the company to implement 14 measures, including instructing their drivers to respect road laws, have a driver’s licence, not exceed weight limits and ensure their lorries were properly covered.
They were also told to wash gravel loads and spray water on roads they used to keep dust down, and to refrain from burning or burying dangerous waste.
