The number of investment companies in the construction sector registered for operations in Cambodia between 2000 and the end of August this year increased by 1,172, according to a report from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction.

Lao Tip Seyha, deputy director-general of the General Department of Construction of Cambodia, said the Kingdom has attracted a lot of investors to the construction sector, making the real-estate market booming again.

“It is a good sign for the construction sector that people are investing a lot of capital, so the number of companies operating in the sector has been increasing year after year.”

Seyha said that over the past 12 years, there have been 250 foreign companies and 922 local companies investing in the country. “We have noticed there are a lot of foreign investors coming to Cambodia. I think they see the potential of prospective profits from investment in the construction sector and architectural plan studies. They act as both investors and architectural plan designers, but they comply with the law of Cambodia.”

Lao Tip Seyha added that there are as much as 16 countries investing in the construction sector in Cambodia right now, such as China, Korea, Britain, Thailand, Japan, Russia, Laos, Malaysia, Taiwan, India, Vietnam, the US, Singapore, Belgium, Australia and France.

He said that among those countries, China is the number one, with 46 investment projects in the construction sector worth $567 million, while South Korea is second, with 35 investment projects in total, worth $551 million. Britain is third, with five investment projects worth $107 million, and Thailand is fourth, having nine major construction projects in total, worth $73 million.

He added that Cambodia has gained a lot of benefit from these investors, including more employment for local people, as well as knowledge, experience and know-how. He believes the construction and real-estate sector will continue to move forward in 2012.

Dith Channa, the director of VMC Real Estate, said Cambodia has seen a lot of investment projects this year, all registered with the ministry, and has gone through consultants as well. “Ten years ago, investors who had money constructed buildings based only on their own views, but now they need experts to help them,” Channa said.

He added that for a city to progress, it had to depend on the construction sector and could not progress without proper technical methods, because it might lack quality. He said the benefits will go not only to builders and investors but also to renters.

Channa said the real-estate market also benefited from this growth, as the buying and selling of land also increases with investments in the sector.

“During the first eight months of this year, we had about 20 projects, compared with only four projects during the same period of last year,” Khen Bora, the marketing manager of Jit Engineering, said. He saw a 400 per cent increase for the construction foundations for customers, in comparison with the same period last year. The projects were mostly tall buildings (10 floors or more) with local investors as owners.

“I believe investors see the opportunity to make profits, and there will be a lot more 10-storey buildings this year. Cambodia is in a good and stable political condition, and both local and foreign investors are interested in investment.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Seun Son at [email protected]