Cambodia Continues Developing Big Tourist Area along Coast
2023-05-09
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1Cambodia is making plans to finish developing large tourist areas along its coast on the Gulf of Thailand.
2Five years ago, Chinese investors began turning Sihanoukville, a small coastal city, into a large gambling center.
3But that ended with a ban on online gambling and the COVID-19 pandemic.
4More than 200,000 Chinese workers had to return home.
5Casinos closed and construction on many buildings was not finished.
6Now, many people in Cambodia want Chinese investment to return.
7"Many Cambodians want the Chinese investor to return because the property prices are dreadful, and we want the Chinese businesspeople to return to help the market to recover," said Chantha Lack, a private Cambodian investor.
8Officials are making plans to complete work on more than 1,100 unfinished buildings in Sihanoukville.
9And they are thinking about ordering developers to either tear down buildings or finish the construction by 2026.
10Cambodia is also considering a plan to lower taxes and make it easier for people from other countries to come to the area.
11David Totten is a director of the investment company Emerging Markets Consulting in Phnom Penh.
12He said about half of the unfinished buildings have created legal problems relating to ownership and responsibilities.
13Because it is not clear who owns the buildings, he said there would be difficulty in dealing with claims for the properties.
14Chinese investment is helping to pay for the development of the Ream Naval base, about 30 kilometers east of Sihanoukville.
15The U.S. government worries that the base could extend China's military in Southeast Asia.
16However, both Chinese and Cambodian governments say it is not a Chinese base.
17Cambodia also says the base will be open to many countries.
18A new tourist area, called the Bay of Lights, is also under development near the naval base.
19The project is expected to be completed by 2028.
20Harrison White is the editor of Cambodia Investment Review.
21He said much more is planned for the area.
22And he noted that additional construction could last until 2040.
23"The project's going to be bringing a very large amount of investment, approximately $16 billion, could even be more," he said.
24White said the area's population might grow to 160,000 and that the development might include 330,000 jobs.
25He added there could be three million more tourists visiting the area.
26Cambodia wants economic growth to return to pre-pandemic levels, helped by Chinese investors and tourists.
27In 2019, about 2.36 million visitors brought in about $1.8 billion.
28Cambodia's Tourism Ministry said Chinese investment in tourism-related areas was more than half of total foreign direct investment.
29China has also helped pay for highway projects connecting the Phnom Penh capital to Sihanoukville.
30"Cambodia is very much in need of appealing to foreign buyers," White said.
31The country of 17 million people, he added, is surrounded by billions, "with China, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and many more, are looking to enter the market."
32I'm Andrew Smith.
1Cambodia is making plans to finish developing large tourist areas along its coast on the Gulf of Thailand. 2Five years ago, Chinese investors began turning Sihanoukville, a small coastal city, into a large gambling center. But that ended with a ban on online gambling and the COVID-19 pandemic. 3More than 200,000 Chinese workers had to return home. 4Casinos closed and construction on many buildings was not finished. Now, many people in Cambodia want Chinese investment to return. 5"Many Cambodians want the Chinese investor to return because the property prices are dreadful, and we want the Chinese businesspeople to return to help the market to recover," said Chantha Lack, a private Cambodian investor. 6Officials are making plans to complete work on more than 1,100 unfinished buildings in Sihanoukville. And they are thinking about ordering developers to either tear down buildings or finish the construction by 2026. 7Cambodia is also considering a plan to lower taxes and make it easier for people from other countries to come to the area. 8David Totten is a director of the investment company Emerging Markets Consulting in Phnom Penh. He said about half of the unfinished buildings have created legal problems relating to ownership and responsibilities. Because it is not clear who owns the buildings, he said there would be difficulty in dealing with claims for the properties. 9Investors are coming back 10Chinese investment is helping to pay for the development of the Ream Naval base, about 30 kilometers east of Sihanoukville. 11The U.S. government worries that the base could extend China's military in Southeast Asia. However, both Chinese and Cambodian governments say it is not a Chinese base. Cambodia also says the base will be open to many countries. 12A new tourist area, called the Bay of Lights, is also under development near the naval base. The project is expected to be completed by 2028. 13Harrison White is the editor of Cambodia Investment Review. He said much more is planned for the area. And he noted that additional construction could last until 2040. 14"The project's going to be bringing a very large amount of investment, approximately $16 billion, could even be more," he said. 15White said the area's population might grow to 160,000 and that the development might include 330,000 jobs. He added there could be three million more tourists visiting the area. 16Cambodia wants economic growth to return to pre-pandemic levels, helped by Chinese investors and tourists. In 2019, about 2.36 million visitors brought in about $1.8 billion. 17Cambodia's Tourism Ministry said Chinese investment in tourism-related areas was more than half of total foreign direct investment. China has also helped pay for highway projects connecting the Phnom Penh capital to Sihanoukville. 18"Cambodia is very much in need of appealing to foreign buyers," White said. The country of 17 million people, he added, is surrounded by billions, "with China, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and many more, are looking to enter the market." 19I'm Andrew Smith. 20Luke Hunt wrote this story for Voice of America. Andrew Smith adapted it for VOA Learning English. 21__________________________________________________________________ 22Words in This Story 23casino -n. a building or venue where gambling is legal and regulated 24dreadful -adj. very bad, awful 25editor -n. a person who reviews and edits another person's writing, usually in preparation for publication 26approximately -adv. close to an amount, or roughly 27tourism -n. the business and activities related to travel 28__________________________________________________________________ 29We want to hear from you. 30We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 31Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.