Gov’t Agency Leases Land to Japanese Firm

The Secretariat of Civil Aviation leased one of its two properties, lo­cated on Sihanoukville’s Hawaii Beach, to a Japanese firm on Mon­day.

Mario Shonan Marine signed the 70-year lease at the Council of Min­isters and will build a hotel on the site, also known as Koh Puoh beach, in the municipality’s Mit­ta­pheap district, Civil Aviation Dir­ector of Administration Seng Van­ny said Wednesday.

“Because it’s a Japanese firm, we have provided a good concession with low rental fees,” he said.

The secretariat, which is under the Council of Ministers, will not col­lect any fee for the first year of the lease. Afterward, it will collect about $12,000 a year.

The Min­istry of Finance will then raise the fee by 10 percent every 10 years.

Seng Vanny said that Hawaii Beach, less developed than other Si­hanoukville beaches, has potential for those who want to be near the municipality’s casinos and piers. Civil aviation has owned the beach since 1979, he said.

Soy Sokha, adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, hailed the agreement as a sign that more Ja­panese “like the sea and want to stay longer in Cambodia.”

Sboang Sarath, Sihanoukville’s third deputy governor, said the municipality will make little profit from the beach development.

“The whole deal was at the Coun­cil of Ministers,” he said. “The benefit will go to small-scale ven­dors, like those who rent chairs or umbrellas.”

The other property owned by the Civil Aviation Secretariat is the Kang Keng Airport in Sihanouk­ville.

National Assembly President Prince Norodom Ranariddh on Tues­day announced that the Ma­lay­sian firm Ariston, owner of Phnom Penh’s NagaCorp casino, will be removed from a project to de­velop the airport in favor of a new developer.

“Because no airport has been developed, that is why the Sokha Hotel [in Sihanoukville] of Oknha Sok Kong lost profit every month,” Prince Ranariddh said at the Coun­cil for the Development of Cambo­dia on Tuesday.

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