The south of Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh is seeing some of the most drastic investment and urban change, much of it aligned to the potential opening of the new multi-billion dollar airport opening in 2025. With new condo developments and the retail landscape radically transformed, as well as new infrastructure including bridges, overpasses and road networks designed to open up the city’s southern corridor.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said in 2024 that the southwest will become Cambodia’s logistics hub due to the construction of ring roads, the existing expressway linked to Sihanoukville, the proposed Techo Funal Canal as well as the new airport.
New Phnom Penh Airport - Techo International Airport
The first phase of what is due to be one of the biggest airports in the world when completed, is due by the end of 2024 or early 2025. The ambitious development is due to be operational in 2025 allowing bigger aircraft to reach the Kingdom and hopes that more international and regional routes will boost tourism numbers to the Kingdom.
Although the airport is located 30-40 km south of the capital and occupies an area of 2600 hectares outside of the city centre in Kandal province, it has resulted in many projects being announced to better connect the logistics hub to Phnom Penh, with an increase in land prices, property projects and of course roads and interconnectivity. The 4F-class airport has a development price tag of approximately USD $1.5 billion.
The group behind the construction is the Cambodia Airport Investment Co. (CAIC) - a joint venture between the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia (RGC) represented by the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) and OCIC (Overseas Chinese Investment Company).
According to at least one media report, OCIC has also reserved 1,200 hectares of land on both sides of the 60-meter avenue (Samdech Hun Sen Boulevard) leading directly to the airport from the south of the capital for urban development land, 600 hectares kept for lakeside land to be developed into a tourist and leisure resort, and 500 hectares of land as an industrial park development area.
Other proposed developments are a high-end yacht club on a 2,000-hectare lake and an 80-meter-wide canal to connect to the upcoming Techo Funan Grand Canal!
- Lagardère Travel Retail and HSC Group were appointed to manage the duty-free services at the Techo International Airport
- VINCI Airports will manage the new airport after signing an MoU in 2024.
New Property Developments - Phnom Penh South
Urban Village Phase II
Urban Village Sky Prime Tower is stunningly 225 meters high and is located in south of Phnom Penh, along Samdech Hun Sen Boulevard.
The development comes from Goldframe Group, a well-known developer in the capital and this will be the tallest building along the major road to the south of the city.
The 790,000 sqm residential development is part of Urban Village Phase II and offers a podium viewing deck with a panoramic view of the Bassac River, and will provide a creative hub as well as amenities such as a swimming pool and gym, restaurants, cafe, mart, as well as a school, cinema and co-working spaces.
Singaporean Sir Stamford Raffles Group (SSRG) - Cambodian Property Development
SSRG announced that they plan to build a townhouse resort project over 22.6 hectares (approximately 35 to 40 football fields say some reports) located near the new international airport of development called Marum Estate. The project broke ground in October 2023.
The luxury mixed-use development will be built over eight phases and final completion is due in 2030, with the development home to over 600 landed residences and 250 shophouses as well as an assortment of retail, healthcare and educational facilities.
SSRG co-founder Phebe Len told fDi Intelligence, ”Our studies showed that Kandal Province is the next commercial destination, very much affected by the new airport only a 30-minute drive from us. When there is such a super infrastructure like an airport everything else will follow, such as highway connectivity in and out of a city. So we are kind of smack in the middle of that area.”
Malls and Retail Therapy - Phnom Penh South
Mean Chey Avenue Community Mall was designed as a lifestyle destination and is located along the popular and competitive Samdech Techo Hun Sen Boulevard (60m Avenue).
It is one of several larger community malls in the area but megamalls such as AEON3 (Meanchey) and Chip Mong 271 combined supplied the market with 140,000 sqm NLA in 2022 which represented 57% of the total retail NLA supply that year!
Development Of Phnom Penh’s Transport Network
The new road connecting Samdech Blvd on National Road 2 to the airport, which is 60 meters wide and 13.5 kilometres long, is already open, while Ring Road Number 3 and Ring Road Number 4, as well as other road systems, are being developed, some as part of the airport development costs.
There is also the ongoing construction of new flyovers as Phnom Penh grapples with urban sprawl and is learning how to build flyovers in some cases the option to retrofit existing infrastructure. The main project is connecting the Hun Sen & Monivong boulevards and the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (Street 271), called “Morodok Techo Interchange”.
The existing Hun Sen Blvd (which is 60 meters wide and nearly 10 kilometres long connecting Street 271 in the north with National Road 2 in the south) and Mean Chey Avenue are also open and have led to several residential and retail developments being undertaken including Mean Chey Residences.
The Morodok Techo Interchange is under development over three tiers with the final part due to be completed in April 2025.
The Cambodian Prime Minister also met US logistics firms, inviting them to consider developing Cambodia's areas as a logistics hub which would include the area by the new airport as a logistics hub.
Possible Rail Network
Although it has been discussed for as long as a decade, a Chinese firm, China Metro Group, is conducting another feasibility study for a light rail development project which would potentially connect the Techo International Airport to the Phnom Penh centre.
Bridges Connecting The Capital
Chak Angre - Prek Pra Bridge (over the Bassac River)
The Chak Angre Krom-Prek Pra bridge has a long way to go, and at the time of writing is less than 10 per cent complete but it was only announced in late 2023.
It is one of several ongoing bridge projects in Cambodia and will span from Chak Angre (which is located in the Meanchey district) to the south of the city, and across the Bassac River to Prek Pra (which is located in Chbar Ampov district) and aims to relieve traffic while connecting the two developing areas of the capital.
The bailey (or truss) style bridge, when completed, could be 845 meters long and divided into 4 traffic lanes at an estimated cost of approximately USD $60 million.
Funan Techo Canal
This massive project in some ways underpins all of the logistics ambitions and the proposed Funan Techo Canal is estimated to cost about USD $1.7 billion and would take at least four years to complete and will see a number of additional roads, canals and localised bridges and riverports constructed.
In total, this project would extend over 180 kilometres, linking the Mekong River’s Takeo Canal to the coastal province of Kep, passing through four provinces - Kandal, Takeo, Kampot, and Kep - unlocking economic development by allowing for access to resources, trade, and transportation.
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