Senior government officials have warned of tough action against hotels and beachfront businesses pumping raw sewage into the ocean at Cambodia’s biggest beach resort.
Provincial governor Chhit Sokhon said inspections would be made at 56 hotels and 220 guesthouses in Sihanoukville and any found to be flouting laws would be temporarily closed down.
Sokhon has already named and shamed some hotels after they initially denied discharging sewage into the sea in December.
"We used excavators to dig up the ground in front of their properties and saw the pumps placed underground like fingers—then they acknowledged it," he said.
"Now we must require them to improve and if they have not done it in a month we will temporarily close them down. When they solve this, then they can continue to do their business. No one has a right to dump sewage into the sea," Sokhon added.
The governor was joined by Environment Minister Say Sam Al, who acknowledged that water treatment infrastructure had not kept pace with growing tourism development in the city.
"We are going to take real action concerning sewage being poured into the sea," the minister said.
"The government now has a huge sewage system planned for Sihanoukville and we are studying the ways we can implement this."
