The dollar figure on government-approved investments in construction for the first eight months of the year increased by 92 per cent compared to the same period in 2010, according to official statistics.

The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction approved 1,470 construction projects worth US$881.3 million between January and August, according to ministry statistics released yesterday. The ministry gave the green light to 1,580 projects worth $458.4 million during the same period in 2010.

“For the first eight months of this year, we approved fewer construction projects than last year, but we approved a lot of large construction projects that are worth more,” Lao Tip Seiha, director of the ministry’s construction department, said yesterday, noting that many of the ventures were large housing developments, garment factories, rice mills and hotels.

The 273 residential projects approved in Phnom Penh alone were worth an estimated $99.1 million, a 19.39 per cent increase compared to the 247 projects worth $83 million a year earlier, the statistics showed.

Lao Tip Seiha attributed investor confidence in the Kingdom’s construction industry to what he said was a stable political environment.

Cheng Kheng, managing director of Cambodia’s Property Limited, said yesterday that now was the right time to restart housing projects after three years of unstable global markets.

“This is a good sign that shows our construction sector is continuing to grow,” he said, adding that investors were returning from countries such as Malaysia, Japan, China and Vietnam.

Previous figures from the Ministry showed that 2,149 construction projects worth a combined $840 million were approved in 2010, a sharp decrease from the 2,230 projects worth $1.99 billion approved in 2009.