33TS.25 26PS

 

25. PHNOM KULEN

The ad hoc group of experts recommends:

1. For the Phnom Kulen road:
a) as a priority, complete concrete paving and hard shoulder work on the eastern portion of the road, ensuring the stability of the remaining boulders;
b) to drain the portion of the road that passes through the village of Anlong Thom before the next rainy season further gutters the narrow existing stretch of road;
c) to complete the hard shoulders on the stretch leading down to the western entrance to Anlong Thom before they open up onto the road;
d) if concrete work is not completed this year, maintain the new road between Ta Penh and Preah Ang Thom before it deteriorates too much, especially where it affected by streams of water that cause major gullying;
e) in view of these priorities and the additional costs of these urgent operations, put in place a moratorium on the work programme on the boulders and the slope on the western side, from Preah Ang Thom to the PKNP entrance and maintain alternate circulation as it is currently practiced;
f) having actual and practical advice of experienced mountainous road construction engineers to take countermeasures such as retaining walls to prevent any falling rocks, landslides and landslips in the route of eastern slope. Traffic signs calling attention to landslips and falling rocks must be set up along the route.

2. Other work in Phnom Kulen National Park

a) Support and develop reforestation operations based on the models presented to us.

b) To review the project to develop agricultural activities as an alternative to cashew growing for the inhabitants of the villages in PKNP, implemented by ADF* and Agri-Sud (NGO) and funded by the AFD** and the Hauts-de-Seine Department Council, which started in June 2019.1
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Information conveyed to us when we visited the PKNP site.
*ADF: The Archaeology and Development Foundation
**AFD: Agence Française de Développement