China to Finance Kingdom?s Giant Sport Complex

• 31 December 2015
• Local News
• 1348 Views

The Chinese government will finance the completion of the Kingdom’s mega sports complex Morodok Techo National Sport Complex, said an official at the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC).

Work on the nation’s biggest sports complex began in April 2013 on an 85-hectare site inside Garden City located in Russei Keo district, about 15 km north of central Phnom Penh. It is intended to be the center piece of Cambodia’s hosting of the SEA Games in 2023 as well as other international sports events.

Construction of the complex has been divided into three main phases with a budget estimation of between US$100-200 million to complete the entire plan.

Speaking after a Chinese technical delegation toured the site in November 2014, Vath Chamreoun, Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC), confirmed that the Chinese government will finance Phase 2 of the construction following 60% completion of the first stage by the end of 2014.

“The Chinese government will provide aid for the second phase of construction worth over US$100 million, and they will build everything, including the stadium dome, in this second phase,” he said. “The Chinese government will provide the finance as a grant and not a loan because our prime minister requested the Chinese government to provide assistance for this project.”

The stadium’s first phase, costing US$39 million, has been solely financed by the Cambodian government and built by the local firm LYP Group that owns the land. Construction of the second phase will start from 2016 and be completed by 2020, and will be handled by Chinese firms.

Although a private firm estimated the budget for the second phase at about $100 million, Chamreoun is not sure how much funding the Chinese government will provide for the second phase.

“We don’t know yet how much funding will be provided for the second phase, because the Chinese experts have just recently come to conduct a feasibility study on the stadium, and they will go back to discuss with their government and inform us later how much funding they will provide, and then we will sign the agreement,” he added.

Despite no exact budget being revealed yet, based on his international experience in the sports sector, Chamreoun estimated that an international-standard sports complex would cost no less than US$300 million.

The Chinese delegation told reporters during their visit that they will build the complex to be the most outstanding sports complex in Southeast Asia.

Because the complex original plan was designed by Cambodian firm, L.C.T Architecture Group Co. Ltd., there is no news on whether the project master plan will be adjusted by the Chinese firms or not.

Based on the original plan, the third phase will take 30 months for construction and will be completed in 2022, a year before the kingdom is scheduled to host the SEA Games in 2023. The government initially hoped to host the Games in 2015 but shelved those plans in June 2012 due to inadequate infrastructure.

But with the Chinese support, Vath Chamreon is not sure whether the third phase will exist or not.

Renderings of the elaborate project show that a huge swathe of wetland on the Chroy Changva peninsula between the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers will ultimately become a leafy looking sporting village that will be bordered by a massive property development called Garden City that will include a

high-rise tower, golf course, waterfront promenade, convention center, and even a China Town.