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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.

The Chinese government has provided $259 million as a concessional loan to Cambodia for the construction of the third ring road for the Phnom Penh.

The Finance Ministry stated that they signed the necessary agreement with China last week.

The new ring road will be four-lane, 47.6 kilometres long, 25 metres wide, and built by the Shanghai Construction Group. The project is an achievement of the Comprehensive Strategy Partnership of both countries.

The ministry said that it will connect with National Roads 1, 2, 3, 5, 21 and Phnom Penh Port. It will play an important role in reducing traffic congestion and be a boon for industrial growth.

The Ring Road 2 is presently under construction.

Cambodia Airways, the latest passenger airline to enter the Kingdom, launched its first domestic flight on Tuesday.

Flight KR801, carrying 145 passengers, left the Phnom Penh International Airport at 9:50am and landed in Siem Reap at 10:35am in an Airbus A319.

Cambodia Airways marketing and branding manager Sok Ravy said domestic routes connecting Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville will operate daily, while the Siem Reap-Macau, Phnom Penh-Macau and Sihanoukville-Macau routes will operate four times a week.

The first international flight is scheduled for takeoff on July 21.

Ravy said the company plans to add a Siem Reap-Taiwan route at the end of the month.

Acknowledging that there has been a spike in competition in the airline sector, she said there was still plenty of room to grow in the Kingdom, as the tourism industry was also booming.

“We believe the tourism industry will keep steady growth, which will drive demand for good quality airline services. We have quality aircraft, professional captains, well-trained cabin crews and standard services.”

“So we believe our company will operate successfully,” Ravy said.

A fleet of two

Cambodia Airways, which is fully owned by the Prince International Airlines Company, is registered in Phnom Penh and received initial approval to operate in August last year. It secured an air operator’s certificate (AOC) on July 6.

With an initial investment of $200 million, the new airline currently operates two Airbus A319 aircraft, with another three A320 aircraft to be commissioned at the end of the year.

Ravy said the company will grow its fleet to 20 aircraft by 2020. The airline expects to operate scheduled flights to Japan, South Korea, Asean countries, as well as routes to Europe and elsewhere in Asia.

The new airline will tighten competition in Cambodia’s increasingly crowded airspace, where 44 commercial airlines operate scheduled flights.

With Cambodian Airways now operating, it puts more pressure on local carriers as the number of domestically registered airlines stand at six.

Cambodia Airports general manager Chloe Lapeyre said the Kingdom is a very attractive market for the sector at the moment because it still hasn’t realised its full tourism potential. Cambodia Airports operates all the airports in the Kingdom.

Lapeyre said the capital’s airport can accommodate between 70 and 90 flights daily – an increase of about 30 percent per year.

“A lot of new international routes have been opening since the beginning of the year. The trend is for faster growth on the international side. That said, there is still space for domestic development too,” she said.

The Ministry of Commerce is seeking Japan’s help to improve products manufactured by small and medium enterprises in the Kingdom and bring them up to Japanese standards of quality.

Cambodian Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak yesterday met with Miyao Masahiro, president of the Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro), and requested that they strengthen their cooperation with Cambodia to up the quality of locally made products that could be used to feed local demand or be exported to Japan.

“Cambodia needs Japanese investors to cooperate with local SMEs to develop high quality products with Japanese standards that can be sold at Aeon mall and also abroad,” the minister said.

Mr Sorasak added that his ministry continues to work to facilitate the operations of Japanese investors in the country.

In response to the minister’s request, Mr Masahiro pledged to promote business opportunities in Cambodia back home and to urge Japanese companies to invest in Cambodian SMEs.

Cambodian exports to Japan soared during the first three months of 2018, reaching $390 million, a 15 percent hike compared to last year. Imports from Japan declined by 1.7 percent to $87.3 million, widening the trade deficit with Japan, according to figures from Jetro.

With over 130 registered projects in banking, manufacturing, agriculture, service and infrastructure, among other sectors, Japanese investment in the kingdom was valued at $1.6 billion in 2017, according to the Council for the Development of Cambodia.

City Hall yesterday announced that the first 20 buses donated by the Japanese government through the Japanese International Cooperation Agency have been received, while the remaining 60 will arrive in the upcoming months.

City Hall spokesman Met Meas Pheakdey said that 80 buses are to be donated to Phnom Penh to serve as public transportation.

He noted that 20 buses arrived in the capital last week and will soon serve as part of an expansion of bus routes throughout the city.

“We plan to expand the number of city bus lines to meet the demand for public transportation services,” Mr Meas Pheakdey said. “We are also considering adding the new buses to our existing fleet because the number of commuters have increased.”

The donation is part of a commitment by the Japanese government to donate a total of 140 buses over the next two years, estimated to cost about $8 million.

Phnom Penh launched its first public transportation service in 2014. As of this year, there are eight operational city bus lines with 157 city buses, serving up to 20,000 passengers per day.

According to City Hall, the buses will accommodate commuters looking to avoid traffic congestion around busy parts of the city.

“Support for city buses has increased because people are now more aware about using public transportation to avoid traffic jams,” Mr Meas Pheakdey said. “Next, we’re going to expand the bus routes from the capital into surrounding provinces, but for now our focus is on Phnom Penh.”

Aeon, a Japanese retail conglomerate, yesterday officially opened its second mall in Phnom Penh, in a bid to capitalise on the Kingdom’s growing middle and upper classes, as well as the increasing number of East Asian and Western residents.

The new mall, located in Sen Sok district, follows the hugely successful first Aeon mall, which opened in 2014 in Sothearos Boulevard and changed the face of retail in the country.

Aeon Mall 2 is in Pong Peay City, an area north of downtown Phnom Penh currently under comprehensive development by the LYP Group, who is focusing on housing projects, wedding venues and commercial facilities.

Tetsuyuki Nakagawa, managing director of Aeon Mall Cambodia Co., Ltd., said a raft of Cambodian developers are raising high-end housing projects in the area, which is helping drive up the value of land.

“Moreover, the mall is close to downtown Phnom Penh, and transportation between the mall and existing residential quarters is convenient and fast,” Mr Nakagawa said.

He explained that the new mall has several strong selling points: “It has a rich, green environment and it’s the largest recreational facility in Cambodia.

“On top of that, it offers access to various public services, as well as a financial zone with the latest technology from Japan,” he said.

Aeon reached an agreement with Korea’s Hyundai Engineering in 2016 for the construction of the $120-million Aeon Mall 2. The result is a four-story mall that covers an area of 151,000 square metres.

Ann Sothida, director of CBRE Cambodia, said the Kingdom is likely to see several more international malls in the near future, as there are still few of them in the country and disposable incomes are on the rise.

“Investors interested in this kind of projects must focus on design and on developing an effective sales strategy to be successful,” she added.

Following the completion in July of the section stretching from Siem Reap to Kampong Cham province, National Road 6 was officially inaugurated yesterday in a ceremony presided over by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The thoroughfare is now officially in service, after a renovation that has taken 50 months and cost more than $255 million, which was mostly financed with a concessional loan from the Chinese government.

Work on the last section of the road – which spans 200 kilometres and crosses the provinces of Siem Reap, Kampong Thom and Kampong Cham – finished nearly a year ago.

“Thanks to our Chinese friends we have been able to build our internal road network which will improve people’s lives,” Prime Minister Hun Sen said.

Sun Chanthol, the Minister of Transport, highlighted the importance of having completed such an ambitious road renovation project.

“This road will facilitate travel and cargo transportation, reducing logistics costs and helping to further integrate Cambodia into the Asean community,” the minister said.

“Simultaneously, this road will play a key role in increasing the number of tourists in the country, particularly in Kampong Thom, Siem Reap and neighbouring provinces like Preah Vihear, which are rich in historical sites and nature.

“In addition to this, people living near the road will gain access to new opportunities for employment and training as tourism investment in the area booms,” he added.

During the launching ceremony yesterday, which was also attended by Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Xiong Bo, Mr Hun Sen said a new study should be conducted to assess the possibility of constructing a bridge across the Tonle Sap Lake to connect the provinces of Kampong Thom and Kampong Chhnang.

The first feasibility study on the project yielded negative results, pointing to impacts on fish migration patterns and the daily lives of fishermen in the area, the premier said.

He said the project could be reworked taking the Hong Kong–Shenzhen Western Corridor as inspiration.

The Hong Kong–Shenzhen Western Corridor, colloquially known as the Shenzhen Bay Bridge, is a 5.5-kilometre dual three-lane carriageway that connects Hong Kong to mainland China.

The cost of building a road and a bridge to connect Kampong Chhnang and Kampong Thom province across the Tonle Sap Lake is estimated at more than $100 million.

Pi Pay will work with the government to facilitate payment of services provided by the Ministry of Transportation by enabling access to cashless solutions for all citizens.

The memorandum of understanding, signed this week by Sun Chanthol, the Minister of Transportation and Public Works, and Thomas Pokorny, CEO of Pi Pay, will allow citizens to use cashless payment technology to pay for a variety of transport-related services, including registering a vehicle, passing technical vehicle inspections, taking a driving test, applying for a commercial license and purchasing a ticket for Phnom Penh’s new water taxi service.

Pi Pay, which launched in June last year, has become one of the most recognisable local brands with its distinctive pink logo and a merchant network encompassing thousands of restaurants, coffee shops, stores and other establishments.

Minister Sun Chanthol said the government is always looking for partnerships with industry-leading companies to boost the country’s economic growth. He said similar arrangements have been worked out with money transfer companies like Wing, Ly Hour Veluy and Smart Luy.

“Today’s MoU will make paying for transport services more convenient, fast, and efficient for all people,” he said.

“This is just the first step and we look forward to furthering cooperation with Pi Pay.

“We want Pi Pay to expand regionally and show the world that Cambodia is able to develop applications for international users,” the minister added.

Pi Pay’s Mr Pokorny, meanwhile, stressed that the agreement represents a big step forward towards boosting the use of cashless payment technology in the Kingdom.

“A partnership like this with a forward-looking and dynamic ministry will encourage even more Cambodians to embrace the convenience and security of cashless in all aspects of their lives, improving financial inclusion and driving financial literacy in the population.”

Regarding the cost of the service that would be provided to the ministry, Mr Pokorny said the details have not been worked out yet, but added he is aiming to supply the service at minimum cost.

“We need to work with the ministry to figure out the cost, but we hope we will charge as low as possible or maybe even provide the service for free. Our vision is not to charge for public services because this will increase the price for ordinary citizens,” he said.

According to Mr Pokorny, in nearly a year since the company was launched, the Pi Pay app has been downloaded by more than 250,000 people. The company now boasts 2,000 merchant partners, mainly in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. It will soon expand to Sihanoukville and Battambang.

He said the company aims to reach 400,000 users by the end of the year.

“Many might recognise Pi Pay mainly from the food and beverage outlets or the shopping malls where we have built an amazing network of merchant partners in just over one year,” he said.