Cambodia to build two new mega-airports
Cambodia has plans to build two new large airports in order to accommodate the growing number of tourists to the country, one of them in Kandal province 30 kilometers south of Phnom Penh on 2,600 hectares, which would make it the ninth-largest airport in the world, putting it just below Chicago O’Hare (2,610 hectares) and well above China’s Beijing Capital International (2,330 hectares).
The current Phnom Penh International Airport is about 400 hectares in size and has a capacity to handle seven million passengers annually. The new airport is designed to double those passenger numbers.
The other new airport is planned to be built on a 500-hectare plot in Siem Reap province, one of Cambodia’s main tourism destinations, capable of handling ten million passengers annually, up from the current three million at the existing airport.
Investment for the new Phnom Penh airport is $1.5 billion, of which $280 million will be contributed by local conglomerate Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC), some $1.1 billion by unnamed foreign banks, presumably Chinese, and the rest from paid-in capital form the operating joint venture between joint venture between OCIC and the government’s State Secretariat of Civil Aviation. Completion is envisaged for 2025.
For Siem Reap, The Cambodian government has approved an investment proposal by China’s state-owned Yunnan Investment Holdings to construct a new international airport for close to $1 billion about 50 kilometers east of Siem Reap city. Land clearance is currently underway with construction scheduled to commence in 2018 and complete in 2022.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that the construction of the new airports was necessary to accommodate the high growth of tourists to the country.
“We have planned to develop two new airports –one in Phnom Penh and the other in Siem Reap – because the capacity of the existing airports is not big enough for our long-term goal,” he said, adding that the number of tourists to the kingdom has been steadily increasing.
Cambodia received up to 5.6 million foreign tourists in 2017 and expects to welcome seven million foreign tourists in 2020, generating $5 billion dollars in revenue and creating one million direct jobs, according to Tourism Minister Thong Khon.
Cambodia has plans to build two new large airports in order to accommodate the growing number of tourists to the country, one of them in Kandal province 30 kilometers south of Phnom Penh on 2,600 hectares, which would make it the ninth-largest airport in the world, putting it just below Chicago O'Hare (2,610 hectares) and well above China's Beijing Capital International (2,330 hectares). The current Phnom Penh International Airport is about 400 hectares in size and has a capacity to handle seven million passengers annually. The new airport is designed to double those passenger numbers. The other new airport is...
Cambodia has plans to build two new large airports in order to accommodate the growing number of tourists to the country, one of them in Kandal province 30 kilometers south of Phnom Penh on 2,600 hectares, which would make it the ninth-largest airport in the world, putting it just below Chicago O’Hare (2,610 hectares) and well above China’s Beijing Capital International (2,330 hectares).
The current Phnom Penh International Airport is about 400 hectares in size and has a capacity to handle seven million passengers annually. The new airport is designed to double those passenger numbers.
The other new airport is planned to be built on a 500-hectare plot in Siem Reap province, one of Cambodia’s main tourism destinations, capable of handling ten million passengers annually, up from the current three million at the existing airport.
Investment for the new Phnom Penh airport is $1.5 billion, of which $280 million will be contributed by local conglomerate Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC), some $1.1 billion by unnamed foreign banks, presumably Chinese, and the rest from paid-in capital form the operating joint venture between joint venture between OCIC and the government’s State Secretariat of Civil Aviation. Completion is envisaged for 2025.
For Siem Reap, The Cambodian government has approved an investment proposal by China’s state-owned Yunnan Investment Holdings to construct a new international airport for close to $1 billion about 50 kilometers east of Siem Reap city. Land clearance is currently underway with construction scheduled to commence in 2018 and complete in 2022.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that the construction of the new airports was necessary to accommodate the high growth of tourists to the country.
“We have planned to develop two new airports –one in Phnom Penh and the other in Siem Reap – because the capacity of the existing airports is not big enough for our long-term goal,” he said, adding that the number of tourists to the kingdom has been steadily increasing.
Cambodia received up to 5.6 million foreign tourists in 2017 and expects to welcome seven million foreign tourists in 2020, generating $5 billion dollars in revenue and creating one million direct jobs, according to Tourism Minister Thong Khon.
