SIHANOUKVILLE has seen a rise in construction activity this year, with numerous residential developments under way and a 100-appartment building project due for completion before the end of the year.

Most of the construction is large scale, and with local investment the 100-flat CNI Project in Preah Sihanouk province’s Metaheap commune’s District 4 is already 70 percent complete with 50 percent of the units sold.

Once the flats have been completed, work will start on a 12-storey supermarket that will be the central focus of the complex.

Even though Cambodia was in a downturn in 2009 with real estate prices dropping, investment on hold and projects stalled, this was the year the CNI project, part of Golden Sand Hotel’s investment in Sihanoukville, got under way on a 2 hectare site and has continued through to the nearing completion date for the residential two-storey units that will sell from between $130,000 and $160,000.

“We don’t know the exact time the project will be completely finished, including the 12-floor supermarket. First, we have been building the 100-flat project, 70 percent of which is completed and will be finished by December. When we have built all the flats, we will continue to build the central supermarket, which will take 3-5 years, around which all the flats will be located,” said Hak Ran, a manager at the Golden Sand Hotel.

Hak Rann believes all the flats will be sold because of their central location in Sihanoukville, the green gardens that will surround them and especially because there will be a centrally located supermarket. But he would not disclose the project cost.

He said that although it was the rainy season and difficult for building work, construction had gone ahead through hard work and the new owners would be able to start living in the flat complex by the end of the year.

“We build to an international standard, provide a good environment, safe security and water and electronic systems at the units,” said Hak Ran.

Mom Chan Ta, a resident in Sihanaukville who wants to buy a flat in the CNI project, agreed.

“My family is interested in a flat at the project because I think it is beautiful and modern, and in the future this area will have a modern supermarket, so it is easy for me. I especially like that the area is in central Sihanoukville and in a good location,” she said.

So Sok, director of the Department of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction in Sihanoukville, said that in 2010 construction activity continued to grow compared with 2009. Most were large constructions and some of them family building construction projects.

He said construction activity had not dropped, and that the department had been informed of a number of projects by owners and all were going ahead.

“Most of the investments are local. The CNI project is an investment of the Golden Sand Hotel owner. It is good when the activity continues to grow and building continues, for construction activity is a vital part of the development of our economy. If construction activity is delayed or stopped it is a concern to the construction workers who do not have a job, so it is good to see it continue,” said So Sok.

Apart from the CNI project, there is a substantial amount of residential unit construction going on in the province including the Hilton, BS, Keng Kong, Koch Asia and Trochak Chet flat projects and the Park villa project.

And on the business development side, while the supermarket part of the CNI project is yet to get under way and completion will be a few years down the track, Sihanoukville’s first major shopping complex is due to open next year with completion due later this year.

Construction on the $10 million Mittapheap Shopping Centre is 70 percent complete for what Tous Saphoeun, project mananger of the Pearl City Asia development, said was the first international standard shopping complex in Sihanoukville.

The mall will contain 800 shops and have parking for 150 cars.