Place
Poipet
ប៉ោយប៉ែត
Poipet (ប៉ោយប៉ែត) is a city in Banteay Meanchey (បន្ទាយមានជ័យ) province, on Cambodia's border with Thailand. It is one of the province's two cities, with Serei Saophoan (សិរីសោភ័ណ), and the two are its largest towns.[1] It is known for its casinos and its border crossing. The chief executive of a property company told the Phnom Penh Post that it is the country's busiest.[2]
Casinos
Poipet had about 5,000 people in 1999, the year its first casino opened. A few years later the Phnom Penh Post counted nine casinos and more than 70,000 residents, and wrote that the casinos depended entirely on gamblers from Thailand.[3] In 2003 the border was shut for seven weeks after riots against Thailand in Phnom Penh, and no new casino opened in the town for some time after.[3]
The border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand also kept Thai visitors away in 2009. Phu Kok An, chairman of the Golden Crown casinos, told The Cambodia Daily that his Poipet casino drew 500 visitors a day that year, half the number of 2008.[4]
Trade and industry
In a report from about 2018, the Phnom Penh Post gave Poipet 100,000 people, spread over 262 square kilometers (101 square miles), and found commerce and industry behind its growth as much as the casinos.[2] Factories stood in three special economic zones north of National Road 5. The Poipet O'neang zone covered 467 hectares (1,150 acres) in O'Chrov district, and the Sanco Poipet zone, a Cambodian and Japanese venture, covered 83 hectares (205 acres).[2]
A 54-kilometer (34-mile) railway runs from Serei Saophoan through Poipet to Aranyaprathet in Thailand. It was badly damaged in Cambodia's civil war, and work to rebuild it began in 2009.[2]
In June 2018 the authorities began taking down the old international border gate to build a new one. The three temple-style towers on top of the old gate were moved to a new roundabout in the town, because people remembered them, the city governor said.[5]
Casino fire
In late December 2022 a fire swept through the Grand Diamond City casino and hotel. About 400 guests and staff were thought to be inside, and a provincial official said an electrical short circuit may have caused it.[6] Fire and rescue teams came from Thailand to help.[6]
At least 28 people died in the December 2022 fire, which Voice of Democracy called the deadliest in Cambodia's recent history.[7]
Population
The 2019 provisional census named Poipet as Banteay Meanchey's special development zone, and the province as one that draws people from other provinces looking for work.[8]
References
- ↑ VAYO FM, The history of Banteay Meanchey province (undated; in Khmer)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Phnom Penh Post, Border town on fast track for development (undated)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Phnom Penh Post, Poipet retains dicey image as casino boomtown (undated)
- ↑ The Cambodia Daily, Cambodia's Casinos Shared in the Pain of '09 (January 22, 2010)
- ↑ Thmey Thmey, The Poipet international gate and the Poipet city roundabout get a new look at the end of 2019 (June 18, 2018; in Khmer)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Voice of America, 27 Bodies Recovered from Cambodian Casino Fire (December 30, 2022)
- ↑ Voice of Democracy, Poipet Casino Fire Highlights Cambodia's Opaque Fire Safety Rules (January 2023)
- ↑ National Institute of Statistics, Provisional Population Census 2019 (2019)