The town of Suong has made a lot of changes and seen some development in its property sector after this formerly most-populated commune in Kampong Cham province’s Tbong Khmum District, to the north east of Phnom Penh, was promoted into a town.

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Suong’s acting governor Chea Naron said that Suong Commune was promoted into a town by a government sub-decree dated 31 December 2008, by merging two communes in Kampong Cham’s Tbong Khmum district together.

The town consists of 2 Sangkats – Suong and Vihear Loung – with a total population of 35,641. However, he said, the town is not developing fast, as there are no funds reserved for the town development yet.

“People here are very happy following the town transformation, and they want the town to swiftly develop, but as an authority, we are not able to make developments as quickly as they would like yet,” he said. “After its town transformation, there are two satellite cities arising; however, those cities are not developed smoothly because people seem to live sparsely in those new cities.”

“The property prices here are rising since it became a town. However, the land here is not sold per square metre as in Phnom Penh city and other provinces; it is sold per metre width. Best property prices vary from $1,000 to $10,000, depending on location,” he said, adding that for infrastructure, asphalt roads are only about 20 per cent of the total, while the rest are dirt and partly concrete roads. He added that there is one high school, two lower secondary schools and seven elementary schools in the town.

Sung Bunna, manager of Bunna Realty Group and chairman of the Cambodian Property Evaluator’s Association, said that aside from Phnom Penh city, in other small towns, like Suong and Bavet towns, the property price is much the same as before. “The land price is also not improved, and we are in the process of studying and surveying those towns’ potential,” he added.

Realtor CEA’s general manager Sen Chan Rietry said that Siem Reap town, Sihanoukville and some border towns are developing fast, yet smaller towns, such as Suong, have not changed much.

“In order for an area to be developed, we need to develop its infrastructure first so that we can attract investors,” he added.