The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) plans to build an addition to the Peace Museum of Mine Action in Siem Reap province, with construction scheduled to be completed in three years.

The new addition will house exhibits on the history of mine action as well as acting as custodian to an archive of historical documents related to Cambodia’s civil war.

CMAC director-general Heng Ratana said that he and the leadership of CMAC had inspected the new building’s site in Siem Reap to prepare for construction to get underway on a new 17m tall main building measuring 52m × 52m, plus some additional buildings on the compound.

He said the new building’s design would be in the shape of an anti-personnel mine and that its mission would be to continue to raise awareness on the tragedy of landmines and to help advocate for demining globally.

“The addition to the museum will act as a centre to build human resources and to manage the archive of historical documents of the Cambodian people who suffered during and after the war due to unexploded ordnance,” he said in a social media post.

He continued that the historical evidence must be collected so that this generation will remember and the next generation can study and understand what took place. The museum’s addition and archive will be built on an area of 12ha and is funded in part by a grant from the Japanese government.

On July 6, 2017, CMAC formally inaugurated the Peace Museum of Mine Action in Siem Reap’s Bakong district, which currently exhibits demining vehicles, machinery and other equipment as well as mines and ordnance and was built with a $12 million grant from Japan.