Developing Tourist Resorts Islands

Cambodia's government has given its permission to six local and foreign
companies to develop tourist resorts worth up to US$627 million on islands off the country's coast, officials said.

Commerce Minister H. E. Cham Prasidh, who is also Vice Chairman of the Cambodian Investment Board, signed agreements in principle with the companies, said Long Sakhan, president of one of the companies.

She said her real estate firm, Vimean Seila Ltd., received permission to build a hotel and resort on a 420-hectare area of an island off Kampot province, 130 kilometers southwest of the capital city Phnom Penh.

She said another Cambodian company and four other foreign firms are planning to develop similar tourist resorts on four islands off the coast of Sihanoukville.

A Cambodian Investment Board official, confirmed that the signing of the agreements, under which the companies will be able to lease areas on the islands for up to 99 years.

He said the companies' initial investment plans would amount to US$627 million.
Tourism is a major hard currency earner for Cambodia.

The government has recently been promoting the country's coastal region as a new tourist destination. Early this year, it reopened an airport in Sihanoukville in a bid to attract tourists, who have so far mostly flocked to the Angkor Wat temples in Siem Reap province in the northwest.

Last year, it granted permission for a Russian-run company to develop Koh Pos, or Snake Island, near Sihanoukville into a tourist resort with an initial investment of up to US$300 million.

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Developing Tourist Resorts Islands