World Heritage Site status coming for Preah Vihear

Vutha today quotes sources at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts saying that Preah Vihear will finally get christened with World Heritage Site status next year. Although Vutha offers no links, the news presumably comes from Khmer-language newspaper accounts. Preparations for the designation have been in the works since at least 2001, when Prime Minister Hun Sen officially requested Preah Vihear’s inclusion on the World Heritage Site list.

Unsurprisingly, deals to turn Preah Vihear into Angkor Wat II have been a topic of conversation in the halls of power for nearly as long. According to a 2002 story in the Cambodia Daily, petroleum giant Sokimex is a top contender to develop the site.

The Sokimex petroleum company is planning projects not only in Preah Vihear, but at the Sambor Prei Kuk temples in Kompong Thom. The Preah Vihear project would include a hotel, golf course and other facilities.

Sokimex president Sok Kong says his Preah Vihear proposal was submitted on Jan 15 to Prime Minister Hun Sen. “The prime minister has agreed and sent it on to the Cambodian Development Council,” he says, declining to provide more details.

Cambodia is also seeking World Heritage status for Preah Vihear, which would typically involve strict controls on how the area could be developed. But World Heritage approval is likely several years away, and any development now would not be subject to such controls.

There are, of course, a few non-trivial stumbling blocks on Preah Vihear’s road to riches — it’s practically inaccessible from Cambodian soil and the place is buried knee-deep in landmines. But like a magic elixir, the promise of World Heritage Site status, and the virtual tsunami of tourist dollars it’s guaranteed to bring, should provide more than enough incentive for the government — or Sokimex, or whoever — to start addressing these problems sooner rather than later.