The Ministry of Health will give three plots of land currently occupied by ministry buildings to the private company Phanimex Co Ltd in exchange for the construction of a new ministry office building, according to ministry documents.
In a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen dated Sept 2 and obtained this month by The Cambodia Daily, Minister Nuth Sokhom asked approval for Phanimex’s request to swap the three Phnom Penh properties for a new office to be built on land currently owned by the Health Ministry in Prampi Makara district. The estimated cost of the building is
$2.8 million. In a handwritten note at the bottom of the letter, Hun Sen granted his approval and instructed the minister to begin talks with the Ministry of Finance to determine the precise value of the transaction.
According to the letter, the ministry will hand over a dermatology hospital in Tuol Kok district, the former national leprosy center in Chamkar Mon district, and a drug inspection warehouse in Prampi Makara district. The size or value of the properties was not known Monday.
Nuth Sokhom’s telephone was turned off Monday. His secretary at the Ministry of Health said he was in meetings and was not available for an interview.
Ung Phyrun, head of the health ministry committee studying the relocation, said the deal was negotiated between the ministries of health and finance.
The Council of Ministers approved Phanimex’s appointment to build the new headquarters last week, Ung Phyrun said. He had no details about the building or what land would be exchanged. The committee would finalize those next week, he said.
Phanimex Director Suy Sophan said Monday that she approached the ministry with the offer.
Phanimex, which also sealed a municipality deal to manage the Chroy Changva taxi station and conducted a land-swap deal with the municipality to redevelop the Borei Keila squatter community, has “not yet decided” what to do with its new acquisitions, Suy Sophan said.
(Additional reporting by Kuch Naren)
