Silt building up where the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers meet would help form a new riverside park, under an ambitious plan outlined by Phnom Penh Governor Chea Sophara.
The ever-changing island of sand and silt opposite the Royal Palace, called Chaktomuk or Four Faces Island, is a dynamic site where four rivers appear to meet: the Tonle Sap and upper Mekong to the north, and the Bassac and lower Mekong to the south.
A tremendous volume of water rushes through Chaktomuk during the height of the wet season, sometimes damaging riverbanks and flooding low-lying areas.
But city officials now say that the silt island has grown larger than normal this year, and it is impeding the water flow and increasing the risk of flooding as the rising waters seek someplace to go.
Chea Sophara wants to shift more than 1 million cubic meters of silt from Chaktomuk to the western bank of the Bassac River, creating a linear park extending 3,230 meters from Hun Sen Park to the Monivong Bridge.
The earth-moving project would ultimately cost about $40 million, and officials concede they are not sure from where it will come.
Mann Chheoun, Phnom Penh’s chief of cabinet, said it would be a joint project involving the city, the government and private investment.
“We will have to get it done, step by step,” said Chea Sophara. “We cannot wait for a big amount of money to start working.”
Ngot Pin, secretary of state for the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, said the National Mekong Committee has estimated it will cost about $20 million to remove the island, and another $20 million to build a terrace along the riverbank for the park.
Ngot Pin said that he hopes the money for the new project will come from foreign investors, noting that the project will protect the Monivong Bridge and “is very important for Phnom Penh’s rehabilitation.”
Ouer Hun Ly, the ministry’s undersecretary of state, said the Japanese government has loaned Cambodia $1.5 million to plan the project.
Several investors from Taiwan and Thailand have expressed interest.
Preliminary studies indicate that building terraces on both sides of the Bassac River would help protect the riverbanks from the water.
Every year the rushing water claims some of the buildings along its course.
Chea Sophara has already begun an ambitious beautification of the city’s river front.
Last year the governor expelled hundreds of squatter families and boat people lining the banks of the Tonle Sap and Tonle Bassac rivers.
Extensive renovation work was also completed on the portion of the riverbank immediately in front of the Royal Palace, forming a promenade, popular now among many locals.
