‘Unique-smart tourist destination’ designated for Bokor mountain by 2035

• Khat Leakhena
• 29 August 2019
• Local News
• 6126 Views

The government will transform Bokor Mountain in Kampot province into a ‘unique-smart tourist destination’ by 2035 using several development strategies announced via a dissemination workshop on the Land Use Master Plan for the Bokor City Development Project held on 29 August.

H.E Chea Sophara, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning, and Construction, made a call for Cambodian people and investors to take the opportunity to invest since Bokor City development will soon become one of the most attractive tourism sites.

The announcement was made after the government decided to establish Bokor City as a smart city, focusing on historical, green, and natural tourism and a great weather-mountain-sea scenic site in Cambodia under the land use master land by 2035.

The master plan for Bokor City Development Project covers 9,000 hectares or about 5% of the 154,458 hectares of Bokor National Park.

The city master plan is composed of eight different areas –residential, commercial, multi-zone, physical infrastructure, tourism, administration and public service, public and green space, and technical infrastructure including sewage and wastewater treatment plants.

According to H.E Chea Sophara, the strategy for tourism development will be to ensure public order and safety, promote food hygiene, organise services, and create an information centre, as well as develop other tourism products.

Such developments will include souvenir shops, an organic agricultural farm, natural tourism around the mountain, cultural and religious tourism, waterfalls, a wind farm, boat racing, cable car, rope bridge, places to watch the sunset and rise, telescope viewing area, and places to host national festivals.

To push for development, the government will also attract, encourage, and support public and private investment.

Speaking at the workshop, H.E Chea Sophara said, “I am pleased to call on and encourage investors and businessmen to check the affordability of investing in the Bokor City development…”

Country director of CBRE Cambodia Ms Ann Sothida said that investors are glad to hear the publicly announced new city development into which investments and businesses could move into the area after announcement of the new city, but also noted it will be difficult for construction as it is the mountainous area.

“The tourism sector is the one of the main core sectors driving Cambodia’s economic growth, so the establishment of a new city in Kampot province will push tourism sector growth further…investment could boom, but it depends on how infrastructure in the area is built fast because the construction is difficult to build due to the city being in a mountainous area,” Ms Sothida said.

According to Ms Sothida, land prices in Kampot province currently rank at US$300 to US$500 per square metre in the city of Kampot and under US$150 per square meter outside the city.

About 40km west of Kampot city, the Bokor City development project is 1,075 metres above sea level.