A new airport for Phnom Penh will be built in Kandal province, a southern part of the capital, according to a government announcement on Friday.
Cambodia Airport Investment Co, a joint venture between a local conglomerate OCIC owned by Oknha Pung Kheivse, and the government’s State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, will be responsible for building the 4F class airport, according to the statement reported by the Khmer Times.
It added that the total investment would be US$1.5 billion, of which $1.1 billion will come from loans from foreign banks, $280 million from the Oversea Cambodia Investment Corporation, a local company, and $120 million in registration capital.
Located in Takhmao town and Kandal Stung district, the airport will cover more than 2,600 hectares of land, the statement read. The OCIC will have 90% of the investment and the rest will be from the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation.
The OCIC reached a deal on the financing cooperation framework agreement for the project with the China Development Bank on Thursday at the Peace Palace, where 18 other agreements and memorandums of understanding between Cambodia and China were signed.
“As far I know, the location being considered for the new airport is somewhere in southern Phnom Penh. It will be comparable in size to the new airport in Siem Reap,” Sin Chansereyvutha, a spokesman for the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation said, adding that the capital’s new airport will cater to long-haul flights.