Michiko Kanzaki, the wife of prominent Japanese philanthropist and businessman Koji Kanzaki, donated 3ha of land in Chaom Chao II commune’s Chrey Kong village of the capital’s Por Sen Chey district to the City Hall to develop it into a public garden.

The late Kanzaki – who had lived in Cambodia for many years – told his wife before his passing to make the donation of land to the Phnom Penh municipality.

On May 31, his wife and municipal deputy governor Hok Hour Lim signed an agreement to hand over the land, with governor Khuong Sreng ultimately in charge of its disposition thereafter.

Kansaki passed away in February of this year, and his widow went ahead with the donation of land after a period of mourning and once the legal procedures for his estate were completed.

City Hall spokesman Met Meas Pheakdey said on June 1 that the charity and generosity of Kansaki was well-known to everyone in the municipal hall and that his good deeds have now continued on even after his death.

“He passed away but he had arranged to make the donation through his wife. The land is empty and it is [around] 3ha, now under the management of the City Hall,” he said.

“We will prepare plans to develop it into a garden as Mr and Mrs Kansaki requested, because that is good for the environment and pleasant for the city’s residents.

“This was his dying wish and it is his final contribution, of many, to Cambodia, to show his love for our country, so we will gladly do that,” he added.

Meas Pheakdey said the City Hall does not have any development plans drawn up for the land yet and will need to commission landscapers and architects to create them using the same design process that any garden or park in the capital must go through.