A new highway that is being built is expected to not only reduce traffic jams, but to also open up a large area for real estate development.

The new highway, called Samdech Techo Hun Sen Blvd, runs from the intersection of Road 271 and Monivong Blvd to National Road 2 at Prek Kampis, and some initial work has already started.

An employee of ING Holding Co, Ltd, a subsidiary of AZ Group, who asked not to be named, said the new highway is to help reduce traffic jams along National Road 2. The new road will be one-way with a park in the middle and will run for 9.16 kilometres and be 60 metres wide.

The employee did not know how much capital had been put into the project or when it was expected to be completed.

“It is to avoid traffic jams between Phnom Penh and Takhmao, because in the Chak Angre area along National Road 2 to Takhmao there are traffic jams every day, so when this road is completed there would be no traffic problems,” he said.

“My company has a development plan for the real estate in this area as well, but I do not know when that project will start.”

Long Dimanche, the spokesman for the Phnom Penh’s City Hall, and Sang Piseth, the director of Phnom Penh’s Department of Public Works and Transport, and Kim Borey, the general director at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, refused to comment on the projects.

However Kuch Chamroeurn, the governor of Meanchey district, said work on the road had not yet started and he refused to talk about the road and the development in the area.

A reporter from the Post who recently visited the area said there was some machinery doing work there and that some construction work had started.

Kim Heang, the president of Khmer Real Estate Co, Ltd, said the construction work is good because it shows the strength of real estate in Cambodia, particularly for land in this area.

The construction work sends a signal to both national and international investors about the strength of infrastructure in Phnom Penh and also the strength of the property market in Cambodia.

Po Eav Kong, the Managing Director of Asia Real Estate Cambodia, said: “If this road is completed fast and well, it will contribute positively to the development of the real estate sector in Cambodia, because I heard that AZ Group plans to build many residential projects in that area.”

He added that although this project has not yet been publicised, he knew the company already had a master plan for the development. The company does not want to leak any information, he said, which may make property owners in the area demand higher-than-the-market prices.