Cambodia- Government Decisions To Widen the Streets in Siem Reap Increased Citizens’ Hardship

Siem Reap, Cambodia 08.10.2020

The hardship of Cambodian citizens increased due to the government’s decisions to expand 38 streets within areas of the tourist city of Siem Reap in northwestern Cambodia. The owners of shops and homes began to demolish 4 to 5 meters from their properties and their storefronts in a very short time to widen and build new roads. The owners of restaurants and shops expressed their dissatisfaction with the demolition and expansion decisions in light of the financial crisis they are exposed to due to the impact of the Coronavirus and the demands of banks to repay their loans. Siem Reap is a central tourist destination in Southeast Asia, being the home of the Angkor Wat Temple of the Khmer in the ninth century, but the Corona pandemic caused the disruption of more than a hundred thousand citizens from work and they are now without a source of livelihood.