The Kandal Provincial Administration held a meeting to prepare for the launch of Arey Ksat and Sampov Poun towns after the government decided on their new designation.
Provincial governor Kong Sophorn said on February 13 that the committee and stakeholders in the province had discussed the necessary steps for preparing a plan and a budget for constructing administrative buildings and infrastructure to facilitate the creation of the towns and address impacts related to infrastructure development projects.
“We have prepared plans, such as listing the documents, making a staff list, contracts list, budget list and asset and inventory list to be transferred from the current district administration to the newly formed town administrations.
“This is to ensure that the newly formed towns can carry out their work in line with the laws and regulations, as well as coordinate and resolve various issues to ensure that the commencement of the new town administrations is smooth and successful and perform other tasks as needed according to the instructions of the Ministry of Interior and other relevant institutions,” he said.
Nong Pov, a resident of Sampov Poun town, said he was satisfied with the progress.
She requested that the provincial administration focus on building necessary infrastructure in the new towns as there were no roads, bridges, schools, hospitals or public service as yet.
Century 21 Mekong’s CEO Chrek Soknim expressed his support for the development process of the two new towns.
Soknim said the creation of the new towns would boost the demand for land there, leading to increases in property prices.
However, he said the new towns require the government to invest in better infrastructure for the area to keep growing after that.
On January 6, the government announced the creation of the new Sampov Poun town in Kandal province by allocating five communes to it from Koh Thom district. Arey Ksat town was allocated six communes from Khsach Kandal district and five communes from Lvea Em district.
With the creation of the new towns, Kandal province will have three towns total including provincial capital Takhmao. Prime Minister Hun Sen has said that the decision to create the new towns would help boost economic activity in Kandal.
