The Phnom Penh Municipal Hall has appealed to cable network users to promptly remove messy cables now hung above the city’s streets.

Meanwhile, a municipal hall joint working group plans to install the cables underground in January next year and May 2021.

Cables were ordered to be removed along 17 streets – Kramuon Sar, Preah Ang Duong, Samdech Pan Avenue, Sisowath Quay, Pasteur Boulevard, Samdech Sothearos Boulevard, Charles de Gaulle Boulevard, Monireth Boulevard, Nehru Boulevard, Oknha Tep Phan Boulevard, Oknha Khleang Moeung Boulevard, Street 1986, Street 2004, Phnom Penh Hanoi Friendship Boulevard, Street 271, Chaom Chao, and National Road 2.

A notice signed by municipal governor Khuong Sreng and released last Wednesday said: “The Phnom Penh municipal administration is honoured to inform citizens, business owners, state units and various private companies that, to beautify Phnom Penh, which is the heart of the Kingdom, a joint working group will orderly remove the cables along the 17 streets.

“All citizens, business owners, state units and various private companies who are using the cables in the above-mentioned streets, please remove them immediately within 15 days from the date of issuance of this notice.”

Phnom Penh Municipal Hall spokesman Met Meas Pheakdey clarified on Monday that the cables in question were those of fibre-optics, telephone and internet only and not electrical cables.

“I cannot answer questions as to why we’re taking down the other cables but not the electrical ones. Only a technician can answer that,” he said.

Daun Penh district governor Sok Penh Vuth said the notice was issued by the municipal hall as it sought the cooperation of residents with the city and district authorities and cable companies so that the working group can carry out its task smoothly.

He said that should the work interfere with business operations, the working group can consider doing its task at night.

“For example, in locations where people are busy conducting their businesses, if we drill into the ground at daytime, it could affect their business operations. So, we’ll do it at night. Authorities will maintain public order and facilitate traffic to allow the working group to carry out its task effectively,” said Penh Vuth.

A representative of the Cambodia Fiber Optic Communication Network Co Ltd told The Post on Monday that his company’s cables had already been put into conduits underground without affecting the people.

He said some small companies had messily installed aerial cables on the streets to avoid incurring additional expenses from laying underground cables. However, he said the tangled aerial cables could put residents at risk.

“Putting the cables into conduits underground cost more. One conduit costs more than $20. Just burying cables in one road cost thousands of dollars. If the cables are installed overhead, it would cost less but it is highly risky,” he said.

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