More than one hundred employees of the Apsara Authority protested yesterday, demanding compensation for the additional travel costs they will incur because their offices are to be relocated to the outskirts of Siem Reap city.

At the protest outside the department’s Slakram commune offices, they called for pay raises to offset the transportation costs of travelling some 20 kilometres from the city centre.

In a letter signed by Defence Minister Tea Banh on August 12, the 1,000-member office was informed they will have to move today to offices at Siem Reap Administrative City – a failed, large-scale bureaucratic outpost located in Ampil commune, Bakong district.

Provincial government employees who have been based there will be moved into the newly constructed Apsara Authority offices in Slakorm, which are just four kilometres outside of town.

Soun Tech, an Apsara Authority employee said yesterday that workers had asked the director, Bun Narith, for an additional 400,000 riel ($100) a month.

“I hope that the director will solve our problems,” he said, adding that they would not attend work unless they receive extra financial support.

In April, barely two years after the launch of the long-heralded Siem Reap Administrative City, officials announced government employees would be moved back to town, to the Apsara Authority buildings.

Hang Sary Sya, another Apsara employee, yesterday said that the move meant they would be facing many of the same issues “as Siem Reap administrative staff previously faced [while posted there].”

Im Sokrithy, director of the communications department, said the authority was trying to sort the problem out.

“We are writing down the suggestions from the staff and will discuss with them to find a solution.”