Phnom Penh Municipal Governor Khuong Sreng has called on his subordinates to prevent heavy lorries from entering the city outside the designated time slot. Hong Menea
Phnom Penh Municipal Governor Khuong Sreng once again urged his subordinates to prevent heavy lorries from entering the city outside the designated time slot, after implementation of the ban was previously deemed ineffective. He expected the measure to be fully imposed within a month.
Sreng raised the matter in a meeting with the Phnom Penh Municipal Council on Friday, during which he ordered the district authorities and Military Police forces to put the measure into effect.
The governor reiterated that heavy lorries should only be allowed to travel into the city between 9pm and 6am, saying: “Lorry owners whose drivers fail to comply with the instruction should stop doing business in Phnom Penh. And if [they] want their vehicles to be released, they need to ask for my approval.”
Sreng noted that any vehicles that violated the ban will be impounded in three different locations on the outskirts of the city.
Phnom Penh Municipal Deputy Governor Mean Chanyada said, of about 30,000 heavy lorries registered in the city, up to 90 per cent have complied with the order.
However, he pointed out that the municipal administration “still needed to increase the effectiveness of the ban”.
“The meeting included discussions about a plan to conduct an assessment of certain roads where heavy vehicles shouldn’t travel on and regarding time slots for the lorries,” Chanyada told The Post on Sunday.
He continued that the municipal administration will organise a workshop as early as late June, “with the expected attendance of over 200 people from relevant parties”, to further address this issue.
Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation director Kim Pagna said the Phnom Penh Administration must leverage what the city has to ensure effectiveness in enforcing traffic regulations. He referred to surveillance cameras installed on some traffic lights and roads.
Pagna said confiscation will not be sufficient. “We must go against the company directly. If they still allow their heavy vehicles to enter the city, their [operating] licences must be revoked. By imposing such consequences, hopefully, the company will learn not to defy the directive.
“[Moreover], we have to collect input from the relevant parties in order to regulate the traffic of large lorries entering the city in an effective manner,” Pagna said.
