Third bridge to connect city with booming peninsula

[geovalin]

Siv Meng

Big projects are transforming the greater Phnom Penh landscape but few so dramatically as those under way in the Chroy Changvar area.

As multimillion-dollar blueprints continue to be drawn up and land prices rise, another new bridge will connect the peninsula with the rest of the city.

Following the scheduled opening of a second bridge in September, a third is now slated to be built by the Council for the Development of Cambodia.

According to a source familiar with the matter, who declined to be named, the plan to build the third bridge under a build-transfer-operate agreement was confirmed following a meeting with the Phnom Penh municipality.

The bridge is expected to provide better access to the Chroy Changvar peninsular, which is already home to projects including the Sokha Hotel and Resort and high-end apartment complex Bellevue.

But the largest scheme under way is the Overseas Cambodian Investment Company’s (OCIC) multibillion-dollar Chroy Changvar Satellite City, which is set to cover 387 hectares.

Around 90 per cent of the sand needed to fill the wetlands where the city is to be built had already been pumped, according to Touch Samnang, deputy chief executive of OCIC.

The sand-pumping will be completed by October, he said, but the city – which will resemble Diamond Island – is expected to take at least 20 years to build.

“There is great potential for the area, as it is in the middle of the two rivers and close to greater Phnom Penh and now there is no land available next to Phnom Penh,” he added.

Land stretching from the Chroy Changvar area to the Sokha Hotel is currently priced at between $1,000 and $1,500 per square meter. In the second half of last year, these plots were priced for as little as $600 per square meter.

A planned residential project there consisting of villas and flats, Borey River Town, was only halfway complete but 80 per cent of the units have been pre-sold, said general manager Teng Rithy.

The company is studying the prospect of developing a further 25 hectares of residential and office space buildings in the second phase, he added.

“The company decided to put more investment capital in the Chroy Changvar area because the plan of the Phnom Penh municipality has moved towards the area.”

The peninsular is expected to be a commercial area, with malls, schools, banks, hotels and hospitals as well as residential projects.

Lorn Sinnara, director of LAN Property, which is developing residential townhouses in the area, said it had a lot of potential because of the fresh air, rivers and improved infrastructure.

“I think the Chroy Changvar area will have the highest prices in greater Phnom Penh in the next 10 years,” he said.