PHNOM PENH: Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered the anti-corruption unit and relevant authorities to crack down on deforestation and encroachment case in the Tonle Sap Lake on Sunday. He has raised concerns about the shrinking nature of the Tonle Sap Lake due to deforestation and land expansion.The Prime Minister says the human degradation into the lake has seriously effects in the natural resource ecosystem.
He has cited that government officials being involved in the crime encroaching the lake.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered the National Gendarmerie, relevant ministries and institutions to crack down on the perpetrators. The Prime Minister has also ordered the confiscation of the criminal’s properties and urged the culprits who invaded the Tonle Sap Lake to come forward and confess in order to be settled.
According to the report received by the Prime Minister, the former governor of Kampong Chhnang province has encroached more than 2,000 hectares of the Tonle Sap Lake, with governors, deputy governors and head of departments of some provinces around the lake also being committed and involved in the crime.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has stressed, in his own words, that such situation will not be tolerated. He has said that while the country is trying to fight the Covid-19, some officials are acting irresponsibly. The Prime Minister says these people are not fit to be officials anymore and they should be in jail, not in the office. Prime Minister Hun Sen has also stated that the party has no sympathy for such an action coming from the public officials.
The President of the Royal Academy of Cambodia, Sok Touch, has submitted a report to Prime Minister Hun Sen regarding the encroachment and clearing of the Tonle Sap Lake.
The Prime Minister has reacted to the report stating that he would be willing to reclaim the land and conserve it, in order to replant flooded forest trees for the benefit of natural resources, fish habitats and ecosystems.
Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction Chea Sophara, has chaired an emergency meeting on Sunday evening to prevent and crack down on deforestation, flooding and land grabbing in Tonle Sap Lake.
The emergency meeting was held after Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered an investigation against the provincial governors along the Tonle Sap Lake to immediately prevent and crack down on illegal logging, and water and land acquisition along the Tonle Sap Lake, especially in Kampong Chhnang province.
