Cambodia’s top environmental official said he has asked the government to reconsider its decision to grant a development contract at Phnom Kulen, one of the country’s most sacred areas.
Minister of Environment Mok Mareth said Sunday that the request was sent Thursday by letter to the Council of Ministers, which in June approved the 2,400-hectare concession.
Mok Mareth said he sent Prime Minister Hun Sen, who also approved the deal, a copy of his letter. “He will consider it,” Mok Mareth said. “There’s no problem.”
The contract gave Military Region 4 the right to develop 2,400 hectares inside the 37,500-hectare park, which by royal decree is to be protected. An environmental official said last week that the Council of Ministers may not have realized that the concession was within park boundaries.
