A Singaporean developer has been ordered by the Phnom Penh Municipality to stop dragging its feet on construction of a luxury hotel and refurbishment of a historic theater, or risk losing its contracts, city officials said this week.
Municipal Chief of Cabinet Mann Chhoeurn said a letter was sent Aug 3 to Yeow San of Singapore, giving the company one month to begin work or be taken to court.
“After this warning, if the company continues to do nothing, we will cancel the agreement,” he said Tuesday.
A municipal investment official said the company left Cambodia because of concerns over the economic and political situation. Neither project got under way, although the firm’s three-story headquarters on Norodom Boulevard and Street 184 has been completed.
Yeow San signed a 70-year contract in 1997 to build a 17-story luxury hotel on Monivong Boulevard near the railway station, Mann Chhoeurn said.
In mid-1996, Yeow San agreed to spend $1 million to turn the Chenla Theater into a modern movie house.
The theater was built over several years, beginning in 1969, at the intersection of Mao Tse Tung and Samdech Monireth boulevards. It operated for only a few years before the Khmer Rouge overran Phnom Penh in 1975.
“I want the cinema to be restored,” Ministry of Culture Performance Director Hong Soth said. “It reminds people of our heritage.”
Yeow San and the city inked a 50-year-deal for the government-owned cinema, requiring the company to pay a one time “deposit” of $33,600, followed by $500 rent per month for the 18 months the work was expected to take.
After the 18 months was finished, the rent was to rise to $2,000, according to municipal officials.
Hotel Developer Told to Start Work
By Touch Rotha
the cambodia daily
A Singaporean developer has been ordered by the Phnom Penh Municipality to stop dragging its feet on construction of a luxury hotel and refurbishment of a historic theater, or risk losing its contracts, city officials said this week.
Municipal Chief of Cabinet Mann Chhoeurn said a letter was sent Aug 3 to Yeow San of Singapore, giving the company one month to begin work or be taken to court.
“After this warning, if the company continues to do nothing, we will cancel the agreement,” he said Tuesday.
A municipal investment official said the company left Cambodia because of concerns over the economic and political situation. Neither project got under way, although the firm’s three-story headquarters on Norodom Boulevard and Street 184 has been completed.
Yeow San signed a 70-year contract in 1997 to build a 17-story luxury hotel on Monivong Boulevard near the railway station, Mann Chhoeurn said.
In mid-1996, Yeow San agreed to spend $1 million to turn the Chenla Theater into a modern movie house.
The theater was built over several years, beginning in 1969, at the intersection of Mao Tse Tung and Samdech Monireth boulevards. It operated for only a few years before the Khmer Rouge overran Phnom Penh in 1975. “I want the cinema to be restored,” Ministry of Culture Performance Director Hong Soth said. “It reminds people of our heritage.”
Yeow San and the city inked a 50-year-deal for the government-owned cinema, requiring the company to pay a one time “deposit” of $33,600, followed by $500 rent per month for the 18 months the work was expected to take. After the 18 months was finished, the rent was to rise to $2,000, according to municipal officials.
