To mark next week’s 575th anniversary of the founding of Phnom Penh, and to coincide with international New Year’s Eve, city hall will host two days of celebrations featuring trade fairs, music concerts and fireworks, officials said on Friday.
Prior to the celebration, more than 1,000 municipal officials from all nine city districts, as well as students and city dwellers, will help pick up litter and beautify the riverfront between Old Market and Wat Ounalom said Sok Penhvuth, deputy district governor.
One hundred exhibition booths featuring Cambodian-made products will be displayed near Wat Phnom on Dec 30 and 31 and Phnom Penh municipality will sponsor concerts on both days and a fireworks display at midnight on New Year’s Eve, Mr Penhvuth said.
“We must strengthen security for the celebration and round up sex workers and street people,” Mr Penhvuth said of his preparations for the celebration.
Participants in the festivities will also be given a copy of a booklet on Phnom Penh written in both Khmer and English that narrates the history of the city from its founding to modern times, drawing amply from myth and legend.
The book contains photographs to draw a sharp contrast between the city under the Khmer Rouge regime and the city today, in what the booklet identifies as the “Techo Hun Sen Era.”
