An inter-ministerial working group has been searching in Kandal and Prey Veng provinces for 10ha to 15ha of land to construct a museum for unexploded ordnance (UXO) recovered from a warship sunk in the Mekong River during the Cambodian civil war in the 1970s.
Mey Sophea, commander of the UXO Clearance Unit of the National Centre for Peacekeeping Force and Explosive Remnants of War Clearance, told The Post on June 13 that talks are being held with the governors of Kandal and Prey Veng provinces to locate an appropriate site for the building.
Officials are focusing the search for land in Kandal province’s Lvea Em, Khsach Kandal and Kien Svay districts and Prey Veng province’s Neak Leung.
The museum is aimed at attracting local and international tourists and will also include a green area for research.
“If we only build a museum, it will be too simple and does not have any meaning in the future, so we will prepare a beautiful and green landscape,” he said.
According to Sophea, the inter-ministerial plan is for construction work and landscaping to be completed in about three years.
Funding for the project will be from the state as well as contributions from generous people. For now, a development master plan is being prepared for the museum and once complete, officials will determine the budget required.
According to Sophea, officials are currently collecting UXO from a sunken warship in a river in Kandal province’s Lvea Em district. They will then start salvage work in two other places in Prey Veng province. Munitions were also extracted from another wreck in Kampong Cham province.
