Sokha Hotel Group will break ground today on a 500-room five-star resort on Sihanoukville’s O’Chheuteal beach, a company official said.
The hotel will occupy a 15-hectare section of a 54-hectare plot on the beachfront, said Svay Vutha, a Sokha hotels project manager and assistant to Sok Kong, president of the Sokimex petroleum company, which owns Sokha hotels.
“This expansion is Sokha hotels’ answer to the increasing amount of tourists,” Svay Vutha said.
The construction will employ 500 workers and the hotel will employ 1,000 people when completed, he said.
“I don’t know when the construction will finish or how much it will cost,” he added.
Sok Kong has previously said that despite a government concession granting him rights over the beach, the seafront will remain open to the public.
The current Sokha Hotel in Sihanoukville is located on the Sokha beach and has 100 rooms, Svay Vutha said.
Sokimex has also started construction on another 500-room hotel on Chroy Changva peninsula opposite the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. The fast-growing business is also developing a $1 billion holiday resort on Bokor Mountain in Kampot province on the former casino property.
