P HNOM Penh municipality staff are rushing to finish creating a riverside park extending from the Royal Palace to Wat Una Laum.

"The garden will provide the city with a good environment and a broad space for the festival season which used to suffer from crowd density problems," said Nuon Peng Kheang, vice chief of the muni-cipality's Parks Department.

He said his staff was working very hard to finish the project as the municipality was very keen to beautify the city.

Kheang said: "The Parks department plans to plant grass, put benches and lights in the garden and have security guards patrolling the area.

Resurfacing work on Sisowath Quay road,which runs alongside the port and garden, is being carried out simultaneously.

Kheang added that his department was also going to construct an access road to the park.

The parks official said the $30,000 project was being funded by the government as part of an overall plan to beautify the city to attract more foreign tourists.

Kheang said he was unaware of the reason why a grant from the French government to pay for the project had not yet arrived, but he added that the park would still be named the 'Cambodian-French Friendship Garden."

The project could result in the relocation of the Phnom Penh port to the other bank of Tonle Sap.

He said: "The garden is located adjacent to the Phnom Penh port which still makes a lot of dirt.

"The government has requested Japan to help shift the port from this side of the river to the opposite side, but the plan is still under study."