Spurred by the bounce in the Cambodian real estate sector, the $1.1 billion development is pushing ahead

Work on the stalled $1.1 billion Booyoung Town residential and commercial development is set to resume next year, an insider has claimed.

The senior manager at the South Korea-owned Booyoung Khmer, who asked not to be named, said work would begin early in 2015.

He said the company had redesigned the project to cater for market demands and it would now include condominiums, apartments, retail and office space in a mixed Khmer-Korean style.

“First, we designed the residential aspect with large rooms but at the moment people want only two- or three-bedroom units, so we have to re-design to meet the current market’s demand,” he said.

“We will be successful because this project includes a variety of buildings types such as condo, apartment and mall and parks.”

The target customers were Cambodians, Koreans, Chinese, Taiwanese and Singaporeans, he said.

“I think many Cambodian people will move to living in condominiums like the Koreans because living in condos is safe, comfortable and secure.”

Construction of the 235 hectare project began in May of 2013 but effectively ground to a halt only a few months later.

In September last year, Geum Yeon Hwang, the general manager of Booyoung Khmer told the Post that the project was moving slowly while the political situation remained unclear.

“Now the company is considering the political situation and the real estate sector in Cambodia,” he said at the time. “However, we expect that everything will be better soon.

“We did not suspend the construction, but we are just doing it slowly and the entire project is scheduled to be completed within seven years, but things can change depending on the situation.”

The senior leader this week said that the company was still confident the project would go on to be a success because the Cambodian real estate sector was seeing strong growth, with many large companies building condos and apartments and embarking on commercial projects in Phnom Penh.

He added that the company bought the land for development, not for sale.

The president of Khmer Real Estate, Kim Heang, said the location of Booyoung Town – along Russian Boulevard near the 7 Makara flyover and another yet-to-be-built flyover – was better than Diamond Island and Chroy Changvar.

“If they only build condos and retail space, it’s not so attractive, but if they include a diverse range of offerings such as condos, retail and office space, it will be interesting and attractive,” Heang said.

Sorn Seap, the director of Key Real Estate, was optimistic about the project saying it had a good location and was large enough to affect Phnom Penh’s development landscape.

However, he warned that other large projects had not been successful in the past.

“If the project starts next year, they will have not only the local market, but also ASEAN market,” he said.

“They will have an affordable price and a quality product for customers which will be able to compete with the other projects.”

“However, I am worried because other Korean projects in the past such as Camko City, Gold Tower 42 and Mekong Parrot were launched and then failed.

“This is the reason that it is hard to believe in Korean projects.”