Officials from Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district said on Tuesday that over the past three days the district authorities had cracked down on 40 heavy trucks found to be violating the ban on travelling on certain prohibited streets during restricted hours.

Daun Penh district security guard chief Kim Vutha told The Post that all vehicles weighing five tonnes or more were prohibited from using the Preah Monivong, Preah Norodom and Russian Federation boulevards, as well as the section of Preah Sisowath Quay between the Chuon Nath roundabout and the Night Market from 6am to 4pm.

“Daun Penh district authorities have cracked down on 40 heavy trucks just in the last three days.

“Last month, we stopped almost 200 heavy trucks and fined the drivers or sent them to the traffic police bureau at Phnom Penh police headquarters to be educated in accordance with the law.

“We have cracked down on trucks violating the ban repeatedly over the past three or four months. Most of the trucks were transporting sand, cement, soil, rocks or bricks,” he said.

Vutha added, however, that the number of trucks violating the ban had decreased compared to last year, when at least 50 to 60 heavy trucks were stopped every day – some weighing as much as 30 tonnes.

He said that in order to maintain order, keep the public safe and ease congestion, Daun Penh authorities regularly deployed 36 officers at 10 target points on the four restricted streets, and another 30 officers were stationed at key locations where traffic was most congested.

Chev Hak, Phnom Penh municipal deputy police chief in charge of traffic, also told The Post that the capital’s traffic police regularly enforced the traffic laws and clamped down on vehicles such as container trucks and concrete mixers that used the prohibited streets during restricted hours.

“Our police officers crack down on the truck drivers and fine them or detain them for education every day,” he said.

When asked how many heavy trucks violating the regulations had been stopped recently by Phnom Penh police, and to provide figures for the first nine months of this year, Hak referred the matter to municipal traffic police chief Sem Kunthea.

However, Kunthea was unavailable for comment when contacted by The Post.