PHNOM PENH: Prime Minister Hun Sen has decided to allow all existing right-hand drive vehicles to pay taxes without having to change the steering side in order to alleviate the difficulties of car owners. The Prime Minister, however, also confirmed that from tomorrow, all newly imported right-hand drive cars must be seized.

Speaking at a meeting with a delegation from the ASEAN Para Games on Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Hun Sen said that he received a case of a right-hand drive car owner who is protesting against the government’s decision to get rid of right-hand drive vehicles, ordering all such car owners to have their steering wheel position changed.

After taking this case into consideration, the Prime Minister said that he has decided to consider this request and now asks all existing right-hand drive car owners to come and pay their full custom duties without needing to change the position of their steering wheel. He also, however, reiterated that from 7 July onwards, all new imports of right-hand drive vehicles will be immediately confiscated by the state.

"You have to come to pay taxes, then you won’t need to change the steering wheel position, for those who have not yet made this change," said Prime Minister Hun Sen. "Those who have already changed the steering direction, at least you now have a left-hand drive car. But those who have not changed must come to pay their full custom duties.”

He added that for car owners who have already deposited money at the General Department of Customs and Excise to change their steering side, if they have not yet gone ahead with repositioning their steering wheels then they can now come and pay the full tax and the customs department will issue a final document for the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to issue a license plate.

According to Prime Minister Hun Sen, there are 6,699 right-hand drive vehicles that have applied for customs duty, of which 2,299 have been repaired and 2,509 have not been repaired.

Article 7 of the Cambodian Road Traffic Law states that all vehicles must drive on the right side of the road in the Kingdom of Cambodia. Therefore, all cars must be left-hand drive vehicles, in order to facilitate the view of the road and to avoid possible accidents.