Companies that dig up Phnom Penh’s streets to lay underground cables and electrical wires without government permission, and without properly repairing roads afterward, could face legal action, a City Hall spokesman said.
Some companies were getting in the habit of starting construction projects without notifying the municipality or identifying themselves at work sites, city governor Pa Socheatvong said on Monday during a meeting at City Hall, according to spokesman Met Measpheakdey.
“Previously, some companies went to dig up the ground without asking for permission,” he said. “It made it hard to manage, recognize who they were and what they were doing.”
About 20 officials and representatives from the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry, Electricite Du Cambodge and companies that install fiber-optic cables, surveillance cameras and streetlights were at the meeting, he said.
They were there to review “the arrangement of fiber-optic cables in the air in Phnom Penh City” and discuss how to orderly arrange cables for cameras, street lights and newly-installed traffic lights, according to a post on the governor’s Facebook page.
An overhaul of the capital’s traffic-light system began in March last year, part of a $15.2 million project funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency to reduce traffic congestion. Last month, City Hall said nearly 600 new surveillance cameras and about 60 of 100 planned traffic lights along Phnom Penh’s busiest streets had been installed.
Mr. Measpheakdey said companies need to put up signs stating which firm was operating work sites.
“Sometimes people have problems and they want to report them to us, but they don’t know who they are and where they are from,” he said.
“If they do not identity themselves, we will take action,” he said, adding that the municipality may refer cases to the court or revoke licenses if streets were not returned to their former condition.
He did not name companies that had dug up roads without permission or specify what charges they could face, but said the city would hold offenders responsible.
