PHNOM Penh Municipal Governor Kep Chuktema pledged nearly US$30,000 Thursday to local health officials to take measures to improve the

city's sanitation and thereby reduce the number of mosquitoes in the capital.   

"The number of mosquitoes is drastically increasing in Phnom Penh because of a lack of sanitation," Kep Chuktema said at a ceremony announcing the establishment of district-level tax departments at City Hall.

"I have supported measures to fight mosquito numbers, and we will help support all activities that reduce the number of mosquitoes in Phnom Penh," he added.

Veng Thai, director of the Phnom Penh Municipal Health Department, told the Post Thursday that the type of mosquitoes common in the dry season do not spread diseases like those in the wet season, but they can cause skin irritations and annoy people.

"We will fight mosquito numbers in Phnom Penh by spraying chemicals into the drainage system for about one month," Veng Thai said.

"We are not concerned about epidemic diseases because the mosquitoes in dry season just displease people at night."