The land on which the former Chamkar Mon Referral Hospital sits was put up for sale for $12.1 million on Friday, just days after a municipal health official denied that the property would be sold.
According to an advertisement posted on the Khmer24 classified advertising website, the land is advertised as 40 by 80 meters in area, at a cost of $3,800 per square meter. A photograph accompanying the ad clearly shows the hospital building and the land surrounding it.
The real estate agent behind the posting confirmed by telephone that a private company was the current owner of the land upon which the previously state-owned public hospital sits.
“Yes, the state has given it to a private company to be sold,” he said when asked if the site included the hospital building.
On Tuesday, municipal health department director Sok Sokhun denied there were plans to sell the building, from which Red Cross services were once provided. The hospital shut down for renovations in 2011 and now sits empty.
Asked on Friday why the sale of the land was being advertised, Mr. Sokhun said he knew nothing about it.
“It is exaggerated information; there is no land for sale at the hospital,” he said.
“I am director—why don’t I know about it? It’s not for sale, the hospital. It will still be a hospital, the same as before, after they finish renovating,” he added, before declining to comment further.
For the past few months, the walled-off site has lain largely dormant, although it has been used to store coils of razorwire used by authorities to block off sections of Norodom Boulevard during protests.
Former staff at the hospital, who have since been transferred to the Phnom Penh Municipal Referral Hospital, have said they heard it would not reopen because it had been sold.
Ministry of Health and City Hall officials could not be reached for comment.
