PHNOM PENH - The temporary floating bridge leading to Angkor Wat will be completed before May and will be able to support more than 6,000 people at once, according to officials.
The Apsara Authority, the government body that manages the Angkor temple complex, said construction on the floating bridge started on Nov 28 and it will be ready for use before May.
It is built on polyethylene airbags and located to the south of “Spean Harl” – the original bridge – which will undergo a second phase of repairs once the floating bridge is completed, according to a report in Khmer Times.
The repairs require totally closing traffic on the bridge, which visitors cross to visit Angkor Wat.
Heng Kim Leng, the director of the Apsara Authority’s technical support department, said the bridge could last for 20 years. There will be six viewing areas where visitors can stop to take photographs and admire the ancient temple.
He said the airbags’ total area was 1,874 square metres and that one square meter could support 272 kilogrammes.
“We assume that one person weighs 80 kilogrammes, so this floating bridge can support a total of 6,371 people at the same time,” Mr Kim Leng said.
The Apsara Authority is cooperating with Sophia University in Japan in construction of the bridge.
Vong Chanvibol, the construction chief, said both the material and technical experts were from Canada.
The plastic used for the airbags was tough and could withstand the weather, both the heat and rain. It would not discolour or pollute the water.
The original bridge, west of the temple, is about 190 metres long. The first phase of repairs was completed in 2007 by the Apsara Authority and Sophia University. It took 12 years to repair the 90-metre stretch.
In May, the Apsara Authority and its Japanese counterpart signed an agreement and held a ground-breaking ceremony for the second phase of repairs, stretching 100 metres. Work is estimated to take four years.