The $350 million Dara Sakor International Airport in Botum Sakor district is being developed by Chinese firm Tianjin Union Development Group and is expected to be inaugurated by year’s end. SSCA
A return of international tourism and technical soft launch of Dara Sakor International Airport in Koh Kong planned later this year could drive recovery in the real estate market of the province and nearby areas, industry experts have said.
Prime Minister Hun Sen on September 17 indicated that the success of Covid-19 vaccination campaigns would enable Cambodia to open its doors to inoculated tourists soon.
And minister in charge of the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) Mao Havannall on September 21 approved an end-2021 technical soft launch of the new Koh Kong airport, at a meeting with representatives of the construction company.
Conventional wisdom is that major developments and increases in the daily flow of people in an area drive up property values there, Lucky Realty CEO Dith Channa says.
He told The Post on September 22 that the airport will bolster the real estate market in the area, in a process underpinned by subsequent increases in transport and tourism activity, likewise propelled by heightened accommodation, entertainment and warehousing needs. The uptick in demand will in turn buoy property prices.
While the tourism revival and Dara Sakor will lift the real estate market in the vicinity of the airport “to another level”, Channa predicted that rises in prices and demand would lag behind the rates seen in adjacent Preah Sihanouk province, at least for a time.
Khmer Foundation Appraisal Co Ltd CEO Noun Rithy said that once the airport is in full swing and a sufficient number of international flights resume to Cambodia, the increasing influx of foreign tourists will lead the real estate market to double in the not too distant future.
Not only that, but as a large-scale international airport in the coastal region, Dara Sakor will have the potential to attract large investments nearby, he said.
“From where I’m standing, the arrival of large aircraft at Koh Kong airport will significantly contribute to accelerate growth in real estate prices and demand,” Rithy affirmed.
Dara Sakor International Airport is developed by Chinese Tianjin Union Development Group (UDG) with capital investment of more than $200 million, and is capable of accommodating large aircraft such as Boeing 777 and Airbus 340.
