Ocic to Build First Underground Parking Late 2015

• 31 December 2015
• Local News
• 12944 Views

As parking options have been rapidly worsened in Phnom Penh, the Overseas Cambodian Investment Corporation (OCIC) claims it will build the first underground public parking on public space later this year.

Located on public space between the Canadia Bank Tower (OCIC Tower) and the Vattanac Capital Tower ,which has been used for years for parking for Canadia Bank Tower’s staff, tenants and guests, the two-storey underground parking lot will be built over 2,898 square meters; 78m wide, 69m long and 6.6m high. The plan is for the lot to accommodate 257 cars, said Samreth Mardi, the OCIC architect who has developed the master plan.

“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.

This new parking lot will link to the current parking under Canadia Bank Tower via an underground tunnel. Once it is complete, motorbikes and cars owned by staff and tenants working at the bank and visitors will be able to park there.

While OCIC has estimated the construction cost at about US$4 million, the company will build it by itself. After it has excavated the surface soil and built the parking space, it will cover it with publicly accessible landscaping on the surface. The banyan tree which was planted by late King Norodom Sihanouk 40 years ago will not be affected. “We won’t remove or replant the banyan tree; we will just build the parking around it by preserving the surrounding soil to ensure the tree can survive well.”

No shopping stands will be permitted there, Mardi said, noting that the plan had been proposed to City Hall in 2011.

While construction is expected to kick off late this year, City Hall has already approved the first phase of the master plan with some remaining issues to deal with regarding drainage systems and telecommunication cables under and nearby the project site.

“Now City Hall has advised us to coordinate with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport regarding the drainage system and other related matters,” he said. “I believe the master plan can be finally approved in the next two months because we have dealt with many of those matters already.”

Because the project is being built on public land, OCIC is not sure whether they will rent the land and pay the rental fee to City Hall or make it as a private parking business by sharing the profits with City Hall instead, Mardi said, pointing out that the firm has submitted many options to the Municipality to consider.

If the land will be rented from the Municipality, OCIC will allow only vehicles of the staff, tenants and guests of Canadia Bank Tower to park there and a vehicle parking quota will be applied to the tower’s tenants. However, if it comes under a profit-sharing approach with City Hall, the parking space will be open to all vehicles on a 24-hour basis and parking fees will be applied.

According to Mardi, the Vattanac Capital Tower will also have their own underground parking space to be built over 5,000 square meters under the adjoining two public garden blocs. But Vattanac’s three-storey underground parking plan will be connected to the Vattanac Tower building. No similar underground parking space has yet been granted to the 20-storey Exchange Square, formally known as Landmark being developed by HongKong Land.

“The two projects won’t connect with each other because they will be built to a separate height and level that can’t be linked together,” he said.

While vehicle imports are rising gradually, City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said recently that with over 400,000 cars and over 1 million motorbikes commuting in the capital there will be more problems in the future for the city’s available parking spaces.