The Phnom Penh Municipal Administration is deploying water pumps and using 10 sewage trucks to pump out floodwaters from Meanchey district’s Boeung Tumpun commune and other areas during this rainy season.

According to municipal hall spokesman Met Meas Pheakdey, there are currently 15 water pumps for flood relief already deployed in central Phnom Penh.

Meas Pheakdey told The Post on June 12 that in order to relieve flooding from the capital during excessive rainfall, the pump stations, sewer systems and canals must not be congested, so the municipality has been expanding these systems at a remarkable rate.

He noted that there are currently 15 pumps operating when there is heavy rain, and the municipality has added five more pumps in Boeung Tumpun because the area is prone to flooding.

“Boeung Tumpun pumping station had only five pumps previously, but having seen the demand, we’ve added five more. Among them, two have been already completed and three are being completed. Therefore, the construction is scheduled to be done in two weeks.

“After two weeks, we can use the full power of the 10 pumps at the Boeung Tumpun pumping station,” he said.

Meas Pheakdey said that besides adding pumps to the stations to relieve flooding where the severely flooded areas are, the municipality has also expanded the drainage network and canals and prepared 10 sewage trucks to pump water out of severely flooded areas during the rainy season.

Long Net, deputy governor of Meanchey district, confirmed that in order to relieve the flooding during rainy season, Phnom Penh governor Khuong Sreng has added more pumps at the Boeung Tumpun station and sent trucks out to pump water at severely flooded locations.

The Phnom Penh governor also instructed all district administrations to clear their canals to avoid congestion when it rains and now Meanchey district has started to clear its canals starting from the Boeung Tompun station to the Stung Meanchey flyover.

“Obviously, at the Stung Meanchey flyover site, after a new sewer has been built there will be no more flooding in that area and people living on both sides of the Stung Meanchey canal will no longer see flooding. Thus, we start from Boeung Tumpun pumping station at the point of Street 371 to the Stung Meanchey flyover,” he said

According to Nget, the district has three pumping stations: one in Boeung Tumpun, one on the border with Chamkarmon district, and the other on the border with Dangkor district.

The municipal hall is also building a new reservoir at the Boeung Tumpun pumping station site which can store millions of cubic metres of water.