The construction of Thai Boon Roong’s Twin Trade Center is set to kick off in August, according to an architect involved in the development.

Tous Saphoeun, deputy secretary general of Board of Architects Cambodia (BAC) and one of the architects working on the twin towers’ design, told Post Property that the company had settled on August 1 to officially begin construction on the mega structure after initially planning to start works in mid-2017.

“Currently the design of the building is going through another short process of tweaking here and there, but this process will be over very soon,” he said.

Differing figures have been thrown around when it comes to the development’s investment capital, but the latest estimate stands at $5.1 billion. The project is set to be built on the former amusement park Dreamland’s 4.97-hectare complex.

According to Sapheoun, the mixed-use building will also include a 6-star hotel in addition to a luxury condo, office space as well as restaurants and retail outlets.

He continued, “I’m confident that this project will prove to be successful, because the company has a big enough budget to make this work.”

“Presently, Cambodia hasn’t bagged many big-name companies to place their headquarters in the country, but after the construction of this skyscraper is finished, it will attract more international companies to Cambodia.”

The project, which is understood to be developed by a consortium led by China’s Sino Great Wall International Engineering Co. Ltd, will be 133 storeys towering 500 metres. If completed, the ambitious project would stand taller than the Petronas Twin Towers in Kula Lumpur which has a height of 450 metres.

Thida Ann, deputy director of real estate firm CBRE Cambodia, remarked that the stature of the building was a “bit too large for Phnom Penh” considering the weakening demand in the market and emerging oversupply.

“However, if we talk about whether the building will be successful in its entirety; it really does depend on the developer’s ability to complete the project,” she added.

For economist Mey Kalyan, who is also a senior adviser to the Supreme National Economic Council, he remained dubious about the building being completed and personally didn’t like the idea of a structure that tall being developed in the capital city.

“When there’s a large building like this, it will make the surrounding area clustered, crowded, and present a big challenge to the traffic congestion problem we already have,” he said.

“Therefore, we should think beforehand about how to solve these problems before this building is completed.”

While the skyscraper has its fair share of industry naysayers, Prime Minister Hun Sen remains eager to see the project completed.

“Before, Phnom Penh only had buildings of three to eight storeys, but now, there are 40 to 50-storey buildings. The next step is to build this skyscraper, possibly the tallest in Southeast Asia. It’s up to 550 metres tall, so we can all go and test the sky,” Hun Sen said when commenting on the development in April.​