The government will allocate $11 million to develop the rural area of Run Ta Ek into a new satellite city in Siem Reap, a portion of which has been earmarked for families relocated from Angkor Park.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said the development of the satellite city in Pak Sneng commune, Angkor Thom district, would take 10 years.

Speaking at a ceremony attended by families who had agreed to relocate from Angkor Park to the new village being developed at Run Ta Ek, Mr Hun Sen urged the relevant agencies to speed up the construction of infrastructure in the Run Ta Ek area.

“Please contact Electricite du Cambodge to come and run the electricity into Run Ta Ek area. We must have clean water, roads, markets, hospitals, schools from primary to high school, as well as building dormitories for teachers to stay here.”

He also announced that ID poor cards will be given to pregnant women, the 594 existing families in the Run Ta Ek, as well as the 1,117 families who will be settling in the area.

The government, he said, will also be giving each family 1,400,000 Riels as a subsidy for the construction of their new houses.

He also ordered the army to help the people relocate their belongings from Angkor Park to their new homes.

Mr Hun Sen said that 1,117 families who had agreed to be relocated will get a 20 x 30 metre plot of land a family.

The government is now in the midst of managing the relocation of families who have agreed to vacate Angkor Park and other sites under the jurisdiction of the APSARA Authority to the Run Ta Ek.

Run Ta Ek Natural Village was established in 2004 and has an area of about 563 hectares.

Mr Hun Sen said the government is also developing another new village in Angkor Thom district’s Pak Sneng commune to prepare for population growth in Siem Reap.

Last August, an inter-ministerial commission chaired by Chea Sophara, Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction launched a large-scale campaign to clear Angkor Park and other areas under the control of the APSARA Authority of squatters and illegal structures.

The campaign came about UNESCO warned that Angkor temples could be removed from the World Heritage List because too many structures were built in the Angkor area.

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