Representatives of a Korean construction company have paid several visits to Bokor National Park in Kampot province this month to investigate development prospects, officials and businessmen said.
Commodities tycoon Mong Reththy said Thursday he accompanied representatives of SamNeung Construction Ltd and the Ministry of Environment to the park about four times this month.
“The area has been abandoned for a long time,” Mong Reththy said, although they have not yet formalized a proposal outlining what they want to build on the peak, currently host to abandoned villas and the ruins of a once imposing casino. He said the Korean company, which has no office in Cambodia, is considering upgrading the mountain road and building a resort.
Mong Reththy said Environment Minister Mok Mareth was interested in the proposal.
He declined to say who from the Ministry of Environment had accompanied the group, but another ministry official said the representative was Chay Samith, Director of the Department of Conservation and Protection. The official asked to remain anonymous because the minister has forbidden officials to talk to the press without permission.
Mok Mareth could not be reached for comment, but has repeatedly refused to comment on a host of other developments within national parks, including a golf course, resort and an acacia tree plantation. Chay Samith declined to comment.
Tim Redford, deputy director for WildAid Asia, in charge of a program to manage Bokor National Park, said Thursday he heard about the visits but was not told about any plans.
Redford said he would support a plan to develop the area in an environmentally-sound way, promoting ecotourism.
“But if [someone] is going to destroy the park and everything that makes Bokor special then it would be against everything we’ve been working for the last four years,” he said.
