Cambodia ends privatization of Angkor Wat Temple: PM

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Friday that the government has ended the privatization of the famed Angkor Wat Temple complex and a public enterprise will be established to control revenue from ticket sales at the temple complex from next year.

"A piece of important news for the Cambodian people across the country: from 2016, the royal government of Cambodia will control and manage the whole Angkor Wat Temple, including staff, revenue and expense," he wrote on his official Facebook page.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith wrote on his Facebook account that during a weekly cabinet meeting on Friday, Hun Sen said Sok Kong's company had returned its right to sell tickets for entering Angkor complex to the government.

He said a state enterprise would be established to continue managing the revenue from selling tickets to foreign tourists visiting the temple.

The Sokha Hotel Company, owned by influential businessman Sok Kong, had been hired to collect revenue from selling tickets to visit the Angkor since 1999.

Last year, the company earned the gross revenue of 59 million U.S. dollars from ticket sales and in the first 10 months of this year, it made the revenue of nearly 48 million U.S. dollars, according to government reports.

Located in northwestern Siem Reap province, Angkor Wat Temple, is the kingdom's most popular tourist destination. Enditem