Prime Minister Hun Sen has welcomed the proposal of a Malaysian company to build a $100-million golf course and hotel resort spanning the Cambodian and Vietnamese border in Svay Rieng province, officials said Thursday.
Hun Sen agreed in principle with the project plan during a meeting in Phnom Penh this week with a visiting Malaysian group, said Sok Chenda, secretary-general for the Council for the Development of Cambodia.
Hun Sen requested that the proposed golf course project be submitted to the CDC for consideration, he said.
Nine of the holes of the golf course, to be built by CVI Resorts Ltd, would be on the Cambodian side of the border with the other nine in Vietnam, Svay Rieng Provincial Governor Chhieng Am said.
The resort, which would cover 50 hectares in Cambodia’s Bavet district and 100 hectares in Vietnam, would create many jobs in Svay Rieng and promote development between the two countries, Chhieng Am said.
“We are cooperating to attract business people to the border,” he added, noting that golfers would be able to reach the resort by car from Phnom Penh in two hours and about one hour from Ho Chi Minh City.
Khieu Kanharith, government spokesman and information minister, said he was unaware of the plan, but said that the government encourages cooperation with Malaysia and Vietnam.
Youn Heng, deputy director of the projects, evaluation and incentives department at the CDC’s Cambodian Investment Board, said the CDC has not yet received full details on the plan from the Council of Ministers.
The plan would include a five-star hotel, a stadium, an entertainment center, a commercial center and a supermarket, Youn Heng said.
A Vietnamese Embassy official confirmed that both countries are working on the cross-border golf resort, but said he did not have any details.
