Month: August 2018

WorldBridge Arena, a shopping and entertainment complex built by the WorldBridge Group in Phnom Penh, will open to the public in November, with half of the retail space on offer already booked.

Simon Griffiths, managing director of Urban Asset Solutions, a company that has provided consulting and management services to WA Arena, said the complex was built with a $10 million investment, and consists of 13 main buildings.

It will have a market with a wide selection of products, from fashion and gadgets to handicrafts and beauty products.

“WB Arena brings together the most popular global brands as well as the most popular home-grown restaurants and cafés.

“Customers can choose from a wide selection of cuisines from Chinese, Khmer, Western, Japanese, Vietnamese and Thai all the way to ice-cream parlours, coffee shops and bakery cafes,” Mr Griffiths said.

“We also have an additional entertainment concert, live show theatre, spa and massage,” he added.

Mr Griffiths said that more than 50 percent of the commercial space available at the complex has already been booked.

Chhay Sivlin, president of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, welcomed the new development. She said the new entertainment complex shows the potential of the private sector to create innovative commercial spaces to meet local and international demand.

“This is a new destination for tourists in the Kingdom. I hope it will help boost the number of tourists to the capital,” Mrs Sivlin said.

Jiranun Wongmongkol, chairman of RCG Retail (Cambodia), the company that brought Inthanin Coffee to Cambodia, told Khmer Times that an Inthanin café will open in the complex in December this year.

“We hope that the new outlet will be a success. There is not many cafes in this side of town, and is not far from the centre of Phnom Penh and Takhmao city,” she said.

WA Arena extends over 1.3 hectares of land and is located between the Tonle Bassac River and national road 2 in Chak Angre Krom.

Construction of the Kingdom’s first-ever highway, stretching 190 kilometres to connect Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville, was confirmed to start in November.

The highway will begin in Phnom Penh’s Chaom Chao area, starting at street Tom Nop Kop Srov, which links national roads 4 and 5, according to Va Simsorya, spokesman at the Ministry of Public Works.

“Minister Sun Chanthol has already confirmed that construction of the expressway will begin in November as planned,” Mr Simsorya said on Friday.

“The site is now being prepared for the upcoming construction work.”

China Road and Bridge Corporation, who has been granted the project, has also said they are ready to begin work, Mr Simsorya said.

The highway will be built on a build-operate-transfer basis, with the Chinese firm reaching a deal with the Cambodian government in January.

The government is now working on a compensation plan for people affected by the project, Mr Simsorya added.

The thoroughfare will come at a cost of nearly $2 billion, and it will stretch over 190 kilometres – shorter than the current road, which runs for 240 kilometres. It will have four lanes for the majority of its run and will take four years to complete.

Starting tomorrow, all vehicles accessing Phnom Penh International Airport will be welcomed by a new hi-tech parking lot, which has been designed to ease traffic congestion, according to an airport representative.

Chloé Lapeyre, the airport’s general manager, said in a press conference yesterday that over $1 million was invested to install advance parking equipment and widen the lanes.

“The redesigned car park will have new access points and exits and will be partially accessible to the public after a soft launch this Thursday,” she said, adding that the car park will be fully operational in two to three weeks’ time.

“The deployment of the automatic payment machines and the widening of the passenger lanes will ease traffic congestion at the airport where an average of 3,000 vehicles transit daily,” she said.

Ms Lapeyre said there are currently eight automatic payment machines in the airport. The parking fee is fixed at $0.50 per entrance for motorcycles and at $1.25 and $1.50 per hour for cars and vans, respectively.

She said the new design and hi-tech systems will change parking at the airport, reducing traffic and freeing up car park attendants so that they can focus on helping passengers.

Ms Lapeyre said some lanes have been reserved for holders of Svay Cards, which are new prepaid parking cards for frequent users.

The new Svay Card will provide several benefits, she said, including a 10 percent top-up bonus and privileged access to express lanes, which will allow drivers to drop off passengers near the entrances to departure check-in halls.

Svay Cards will allow drivers to enter and exit the car park and express lanes with a simple scan of their card at entry and exit gates. The scanners debit the parking fee upon exit, she added.

Sorry, this entry is only available in JP.

Yunnan Shengmao Investment (Cambodia) Co., Ltd yesterday started the construction of a $1-billion commercial complex in Phnom Penh’s Boeung Salang village.

The land, located in Russey Keo district, was leased by Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP).

Chen Tai An, director of Yunnan Shengmao Investment, said the project, known as Triumph Commercial Centre, is in line with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). He said the project will bring the two countries closer.

“We are constructing an international commercial and tourism center. There are about 10,000 companies with 100,000 types of goods that will occupy the complex,” Mr Chen said, adding that it will be “the biggest commercial centre in Cambodia connecting to the rest of the world through BIR.”

He said the first phase of the project will be completed by the end of next year, with the whole development finished a year later.

The project received approval from the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) in April. CDC said Triumph Commercial Centre will help create more than 1,000 jobs.

Hei Bavy, PPAP’s director general, said the port authority decided to lease the site because the land was idle.

“Previously this area was used for the storage of containers, but since 2013, this site was not really used because PPAP transferred all its container operations to the terminal in Kien Svay, in Kandal province.

“It took two years to study the project before starting construction. It will provide many benefits for local businesspeople, as well as the general public through employment creation,” Mr Bavy said.

Last month, PPAP leased nine hectares of land along the Tonle Sap River for 50 years to Chean Chhoeng Thai Group, a subsidiary of Yuetai Group, a major Chinese real estate developer.

PPAP was paid $16.5 million for the deal, which will see the development of the area that stretches from Chroy Changvar Bridge – also known as the Cambodia-Japan Friendship Bridge – to the Night Market into a commercial complex.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said that a new government is scheduled to be formed next month after the CPP won a sweeping victory in Sunday’s election.

Speaking to about 10,000 garment workers in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district, Mr Hun Sen said the Cambodian People’s Party will form a new government on September 20.

“We will form a new government on September 20 and a new Council of Ministers’ meeting will be held on September 21,” he said.

“The first opening session of the National Assembly will take place on September 19 and lawmakers will take oaths in the evening,” he said.

Mr Hun Sen said that King Norodom Sihamoni will preside over the National Assembly’s first opening session.

According to National Election Committee’s preliminary results, the CPP garnered roughly 4.8 million votes, dwarfing the two parties including the two closest competitors–Funcinpec party with 373,526 votes and the League for Democratic Party with 308,292 votes.

Based on its own calculations, the CPP said it secured all 125 parliamentary seats after garnering 77.36 percent of all valid ballots.