Subterranean Garage Given Green Light

• 15 January 2018
• Local News
• 3857 Views

Developed and built by Oversea Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC), a long-awaited underground parking space facility situated between Canadia Tower and Vattanac Capital in downtown Phnom Penh is on schedule to open early next year.

After nearly two years of construction since work began in late 2015, OCIC, the firm behind dozens of developments and the owner of Canadia Bank, will inaugurate its first large-scale underground garage in January 2018.

“The inside and outside of the construction facility is totally complete, and we are just waiting for the currently under construction entrance adjacent to Street 77,” Chhin Hok, OCIC manager responsible for the project told Construction and Property Magazine in late December. “The entrance is expected to be finished in the first week of January,” he added.

According to Mr. Hok the facility features approximately 9,000 square metres spanning two levels and can accomodate up to 304 cars.
In case of powercuts, automatic LED lights will be activated and flood control comes in the form of an automatic water absorption system. Mr. Hok stressed that the company has also equiped the area with prevention methods against all types of risks.

Once it is complete, motorbikes and cars owned by staff and tenants working at the bank and visitors will be able to park there, Samreth Mardi, the OCIC architect who has developed the master plan, told Construction and Property Magazine.

“The traffic congestion and growing number of vehicles from the staff and people working in Canadia Tower has forced us to build this kind of underground parking space to reduce the congestion,” he said.

Initially slated to cost USD4m, investment outlay had increased to almost USD7m as of mid-June 2017, according to the Phnom Penh Post.

City Hall spokesman Met Measpheakdey reportedly told the Post that Phnom Penh municipality partnered on a feasibility study with a group of Malaysian experts to develop another subterranean garage option for the public situated between Streets 106 and 108, near the Night Market.

With vehicle imports rapidly increasing ,the Ministry of Public Works and Transport records show that over 600,000 cars and 3.5 million motorbikes currently commute in the capital. The downtown area in particular will see more competition in the future for the city’s few available parking spaces.

Increasing traffic jams have been an issue of concern along Phnom Penh’s inner city roads, and City Hall has coordinated with the group of Malaysian experts to seek possible routes to develop crosswalks, underground pathways and highways in many locations across the city, said Met Measpheakdey, who explained that the feasibility study is currently still underway.