Charging that overloaded logging trucks caused the collapse of Bridge 24 on National Route 6, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday threatened to “handcuff” the owners of logging companies and revoke their licenses if they overload their trucks.
“When [Minister of Public Works and Transport] Ky Traing Lim called to inform me about the bridge collapsing, my ears became very hot,” Hun Sen said in a speech at a school opening in Kompong Thom province. “He told me that there were some trucks carrying five to seven logs on the road. Any company that overloads its trucks will have their factory shut down and their land concession revoked.”
Bridge 24 was swept away by flooding Tuesday, halting traffic and turning Kompong Cham into an “island,” officials said. The bridge will take at least six days to fix, officials said.
Hun Sen said if any logging company owners could not comply with his order, they should “walk away” from the logging business. “If you do wrong, I will handcuff you,” he said.
Two months ago, the Japanese embassy signed an agreement with Cambodia to reconstruct Bridge 24 and Bridge 25, with construction scheduled to begin sometime in November or December, said Toshihiko Horiuchi, first secretary at the Japanese embassy. He said Japan will spend $7.1 million to rebuild both bridges. Meanwhile, Hun Sen asked the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to reduce the number of land concessions given to logging companies and reserve land for farmers.
Hun Sen said many Cambodians earn their living clearing trees from small tracts of lands for farming. Then the farmers leave the land after the soil becomes unsuitable for farming.
The prime minister urged farmers to plant sustainable crops and harvest the latex from rubber trees. The government is planning to distribute 6,200 hectares of lands—originally set aside for logging concessions—to farmers. Each farmer would receive three hectares of land, he said.
