Ratana, a 21-year-old construction worker, helps to demolish a mosque yesterday, which has been deemed unsafe on the edge of Boeung Kak lake in Srah Chak commune in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district.

Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak Mosque has been demolished and will be rebuilt after the government of the United Arab Emirates agreed to donate more than US$1 million to construct a new building for worship, the Cambodian Muslim Development Centre said yesterday.

Usman Hassan, president of CMDA, said yesterday that representatives of the donor organisation had inspected the mosque in Daun Penh district’s Srah Chak commune, constructed in 1968, and deemed it unsafe. Demolition started on Sunday.

“We demolished the old mosque to build a new one, taking a sample of the style of a famous mosque in Turkey,” he said, adding that experts from UAE would oversee the financing and construction of the new building.  

Repairs made in 1990 to the original Boeung Kak Mosque had not done  enough to save the building which had weak foundations and was at threat of collapsing, he said. A training centre for students from the provinces would also be constructed and the new mosque is set to be completed in one year.