Kep provincial officials cut down around 30 trees along the beachfront in the city and said this was done to beautify the area ahead of the Southeast Asia Games in May.

A video from a local news outlet Kep News from February 2 shows Kep city governor Kheng Yorn kicking off the so-called beautification project, with officials seen cutting down trees and the governor attempting to negotiate with vendors, who sell seafood on the sidewalk along the beach, to leave the area.

On Tuesday, Yorn said the tree cutting was part of plans to renovate the sidewalk along the beach, which would host the triathlon during the Southeast Asia Games. He downplayed the cutting of the trees by saying they were not valuable and hosted worms that bothered tourists.

“It has worms living in it and that would cause some problems for tourists who go and sit under these trees. Plus, it has a lot of fallen leaves, which are difficult to clean up,” he said.

Another reason for removing the trees, he said, was because they were being used for shade by vendors who would rent out mats for tourists to sit on and sell them seafood. He accused the vendors of creating “disorder” along the beach.

“As of now, they have expanded their operations and have caused many problems including public disorder along the beach and are overcharging the tourists who come to visit here,” he said..

kgbagent wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:18 pm

Never got to see these older buildings behind the wall till now