SIHANOUKVILLE’S first significant shopping complex is scheduled to open early next year, its project manager said yesterday.

Construction on the US$10 million Mittapheap Shopping Centre will be completed over the next three months, according to Tous Saphoeun, project manager of the Pearl City Asia development.

“We have completed 70 percent of the whole project, and we will open doors for our clients early next year,” he said.

“We are the first international-standard shopping complex in Sihanoukville.”

The mall will lie on 62 hectares of Sangkat Number One Commune, Mittapheap district, by Sokha beach. It will contain 800 shops and have parking space for 150 cars.

Tous Saphoeun said that the second floor could be used for exhibitions and wedding receptions.

The Pearl City Asia development project is owned by tycoon Khaou Sambath, managing director of Thai Boon Roong Co.

The company has also built 20 percent of the $40 milllion 17-storey five-star Mittapheap Hotel, set to be completed in two years.

Tith Chantha, director general at the Ministry of Tourism, said yesterday that the ministry welcomed the developments as a driver for visitors.

“We really support the development of a shopping mall and hotel. We hope it can attract tourists to visit more and more in the future,” he said.

In the first six months of this year, 20 new hotels in Cambodia were granted licences, according to a report from the Tourism Ministry.

The Ministry of Land Management’s construction director Lao Tip Seiha said yesterday that the Ministry approved the Pearl City licence in 2009.

“We’re proud to have the first new shopping mall in Sihanoukville, we really do support them,” he said.

“Sihanoukville has great potential for economic growth."

The developments would create more local jobs and boost the Sihanoukville economy, he said.