Place
Ta Khmau
ក្រុងតាខ្មៅ
Ta Khmau (ក្រុងតាខ្មៅ), also written Takhmao, is a town on the Bassac River and the capital of Kandal province, just south of Phnom Penh.[1][2] By road it lies about 11 kilometers (7 miles) from the capital.[1]
The town
Ta Khmau is a municipality, or krong, and the seat of the provincial government.[1] In the 2019 census its six urban communes had 75,629 people living in households, against 58,264 in 1998 and 80,141 in 2008. The communes were Doeum Mien, Kampong Samnanh, Prek Ho, Prek Ruessey, Ta Kdol and Ta Khmao.[3]
A sub-decree of January 2019 moved four communes of S'ang district, Svay Rolum, Kaoh Anlong Chen, Setbou and Roka Khpos, and part of Kandal Stueng district into the town.[4] Into Cambodia counts ten communes, or sangkat, in the town.[1]
Planning and growth
In a three-year project that ran to 2013 and cost US$60,000, the Canadian town of Chilliwack, in British Columbia, worked with Ta Khmau's officials on a plan to build up the local economy.[5] The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction drew up a land use master plan for the town with a vision to 2030.[6]
Work on a sewerage system for the town began in May 2025, paid for by a South Korean concessional loan and by the Cambodian government. The plan is a treatment plant on 30 hectares (74 acres) able to handle 12,000 cubic meters of wastewater a day, with seven pumping stations and 125 kilometers (78 miles) of pipes to homes. It was due to be finished in 2027. At the groundbreaking, South Korea's ambassador spoke of Ta Khmau as a fast-growing satellite city of Phnom Penh.[7]
Boat races
In October 2016 the year's first boat races, ahead of the Water Festival, were held on the Bassac at Ta Khmau. About 70,000 people lined the riverbanks to watch more than 3,000 rowers in 64 boats. That year Cham Muslim crews, women's teams among them, took part for the first time, and much of the mainly Cham village of Preak Tapov came out to watch.[2]
Film
In 2009 the film director Ly Bun Yim built a studio and an auditorium in Ta Khmau for his revived company, Flash Diamond Movie Production.[8]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Into Cambodia, Kandal Province (undated)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Cambodia Daily, Phan Soumy, Thousands Watch as Annual Boat Racing Kicks Off in Kandal (October 17, 2016)
- ↑ City Population, Krong Ta Khmau (Municipality, Cambodia), figures of the National Institute of Statistics of Cambodia (undated)
- ↑ Open Development Mekong, Sub-decree No. 09 on the adjustment of the administrative boundary between Ta Khmau municipality and S'ang district and Kandal Stung district of Kandal province (January 8, 2019)
- ↑ Open Development Cambodia, From the Great White North to Takhmao, from Economics Today (November 7, 2013)
- ↑ Open Development Cambodia, Takhmao City land use master plan vision 2030 (undated; in Khmer)
- ↑ Cambodianess, Teng Yalirozy, Ta Khmau's $90m Sewerage System Development Underway (May 6, 2025)
- ↑ VOA Khmer, Producers Recall 'Golden Age' of Film (October 21, 2009)