Residents living along Prek Tnaut river that snakes from Kampong Speu to Kandal say they have mostly stayed away from using the polluted river, but are now seeing it turn an oily black color and smell noxious.
About 50 people gathered in a circle with offerings of fruit, flowers and a pig’s head Wednesday as they burned incense sticks and shouted misfortunes they wish would befall the mix of tycoons and government-connected elites who have increasingly gobbled up portions of the lake.
Vegetable growers on Boeng Tompun lake along Phnom Penh’s southern Hun Sen Blvd. found a dead body in the water that police believe was brought from the Toul Tom Poung area and dumped.
Meanchey and Chamkarmon districts have started cleaning sewage systems last week, days after environmental activists identified seven locations in three districts where trash had clogged these canals.
Boeng Tompun residents whose homes were demolished by Phnom Penh authorities last month to make way for a reservoir said they are rebuilding sections of their homes because they have no other alternative.
District authorities deleted photos on reporters’ cameras and made them leave a public area as authorities demolished residents’ homes, allegedly without compensation, near the Boeng Tompun lake development.
Excavators have started digging a waste-water treatment reservoir off a wastewater canal in Boeng Tompun I commune, with Phnom Penh authorities telling the land’s claimants they had no claim to the land.
Three journalists who were attempting a live broadcast from a land protest at Phnom Penh’s Boeng Tompun lake area were taken to a police station and made to sign an agreement that they would not make the same mistake again.
A major Phnom Penh lake development involving several oknha and senators threatens livelihoods and wetlands, as well as rivers with sewage contamination, and puts 1 million people at risk of flooding, the U.N. said in a letter to the Cambodian government — which in turn responded with seven pages summarizing assessments of the development.
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