Construction on Phnom Penh’s CamKo City project will resume after a year’s suspension following a fraud scandal that left its original financial backer bankrupt, an official at the Ministry of Land Management said Wednesday.
World City, the South Korean company behind the satellite city, has confirmed that the company is in partnership with a new commercial bank and construction developer, said Beng Hong Socheat Khemro, spokesman for the Ministry of Land Management.
“They have informed the ministry that they will restart very soon. They got a new bank and a construction developer,” he said, adding that he did not know the name of the backer or developer.
CamKo City, located in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district, was halted after South Korea-based Busan Savings Bank, which had also proposed to fund a $1 billion Siem Reap airport project, filed bankruptcy last year over a fraud scandal, leaving both projects in disarray.
Tekreth Samrach, secretary of state at the Council of Ministers who leads a government steering committee on the proposed Siem Reap airport project, which is supposed to include a special economic zone and a new city, said Wednesday that work on the project would restart in about a month.
“The two projects will restart at the same time,” he said.
World City officials were not available Wednesday for comment.
Rasmei Kampuchea Daily reported Wednesday that Kim Dukkon, vice president of World City, said the company would restart its third phase with $2 billion of investment and 126 hectares of land, but did not elaborate on where the investment will come from or when the project will be completed.
The company finished the first phase in 2009, and the second in 2010.
“The CamKo City development project will continue smoothly from now on, making it a hub of economic and cultural activity…in Phnom Penh in the future,” Mr. Dukkon said.
