Developers broke ground Saturday on the $70 million Fantasy Villas and Golf Resort off Route 3, about 20 km south of Pochentong International Airport.
The Singaporean-Cambodian-Malaysian joint venture is envisioned to include a 400-room luxury hotel, an 18-hole golf course and clubhouse and 300 bungalows priced at about $300,000.
“I think the market is there, it’s just a matter of time,” said Freddie Tan, managing director of the project and president of Boon Town Construction.
Tan said Thursday that it will take two to three years to develop the 150-hectare site, which also is to include a two-tiered driving range and 12-lane bowling alley.
He said 2,000 lifetime memberships to the country club are for sale now for $18,000 each.
After the completion of the clubhouse, another 800 memberships will be sold at a higher price, he said.
Tan said one of the big selling points of the Fantasy Villas parcel of land was a 20-hectare pond.
He said the development group first came to Cambodia in 1996 to study the market and completed its feasibility study before July’s fighting.
Cambodia’s other luxury golf resort—the Cambodia Golf and Country Club—opened in June 1997.
It was quickly stung by the downturn of the economy and tourism in the aftermath of the factional fighting.
Tan said he believes the economy is on the mend.
“Following the 1997 factional fighting, we decided to wait and see what would happen, but the statistics from the Tourism Ministry indicate that tourism is beginning to recover,” Tan said.
“We are not going to wait,” he added, noting that other investors have expressed interest in the region.
“We see some service apartments in town that are always booked full, and the rent is high. We expect investment to pick up.”
Tan also said that the group is not worried about its competition.
“We saw the other golf course and we thought we could do better,” he said.
