Citizens living under the Stung Meanchey Bridge can move to their plots along the Stung Meanchey canal within two weeks, Phnom Penh municipal governor Khuong Sreng said.

At a workshop analysing the development of the canal, Sreng said all sectors in the capital had developed over the past two decades. The economy has grown and there’s been an increase of citizens and vehicles.

He said there’s been a rapid increase of migrant workers moving from provinces to work in the capital, and some of them settle down on public land.

Currently, there are 562 families living along the canal. The people living there clog the water flow and cause floods in the western part of the city, he said.

The Phnom Penh administration advised authorities to raise the standards of poor communities according to the National Strategic Development Plan which serves to lower poverty in communities in the Kingdom by 2030, Sreng said.

The administration is raising the standards of the Stung Meanchey community by providing 4m by 6m plots to each family currently living under the bridge. A street is also being built along the canal.

“The renovation of Stung Meanchey canal will be finished in July. Residents living under Stung Meanchey Bridge will move to live on their allocated plots which are along the canal,” Sreng said.

Srey Mao, 22, lives in a government-built, zinc-roofed house under Stung Meanchey Bridge. She said her family is looking forward to living on their land with an ownership certificate.

“Our family cannot afford to build a standard house, but we are ready to move to live in the new land organised by the authorities,” she said.

She expressed gratitude to the authorities for building her house equipped with water and electricity.

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