Phnom Penh City Hall yesterday announced plans to build a promenade down the city’s waterfront, picking up where the current riverfront walkway ends around the Chaktomuk theatre and extending some four kilometres south to the Monivong bridge.

Municipality spokesman Long Dimanche said yesterday that while there were no clear plans on when to start, the city was already discussing it with riverfront hotels.

“We just informed them to cooperate, because the riverbank belongs to the state,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Public Works and Transport would lead the project.

City Hall also recently issued a directive signed by Phnom Penh Municipal Governor Pa Socheatvong forbidding supermarkets and convenience stories from giving out plastic bags on weekends.

The text of the July 17 directive, which was to go into effect immediately, said that it was aimed at reducing the amount of “hard-to-melt and decay waste” in the city.