Phnom Penh municipal workers have installed night lighting around Preah Vihear temple as part of an ongoing effort to develop the site for tourism and wrest it from dependence on Thailand.
The workers have installed nearly 30 spotlights and lamps at the top of the mountain and around the four temples, said Nhem Saran, municipal director of public works.
“The temple shines like the moon in the sky,” he said at a recent meeting.
The municipality has donated a 650 kilowatt generator to light the temple from 7 pm to 9 pm. It was installed at the base of a foothill where the city plans to build a village, school and hospital about 3 km from the temple entrance.
The Preah Vihear site previously hosted as many as 1,000 tourists a day who boarded buses in Thailand and traveled over smooth Thai roads. But in December Thailand closed its side of the border, claiming that Cambodian vendors were polluting a stream that flows into Thailand.
Cambodia is responding with a plan to build an access road on the Cambodian side.
, mostly financed by Phnom Penh. The road would extend 113 km north from the provincial capital of Tbeang Meanchey.
