CAMBODIANS pledged about US$300,000 to the conservation of Preah Vihear temple on Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of its inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage site, said Tith Thavarith, executive director of the Bayon television station.
"We have only collected about 10 percent of the total so far, and the donors kept calling into our station on July 7, so we cannot say exactly how much we raised," he said.
Tith Thavarith said all the money would go directly into the conservation of Preah Vihear temple but that details of the project needed to be discussed with Hun Mana, president of Bayon TV.
The amount estimated to have been raised in a day is tenfold UNESCO's monetary contribution for preservation of the temple's architecture, said Chuch Phoeurn, chairman of the National Preah Vihear Authority (NPVA) and secretary of state at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.
He said UNESCO has given $30,000 for daily preservation efforts and another $50,000 to restore a market that was damaged by Thai rocket fire during fighting earlier this year. In total, the Cambodian government has budgeted 3.5 billion riels (about $833,000) for the temple, Chuch Phoeurn said.
"We have to preserve and develop the temple ... in accordance with the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee," he added.
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