SihanoukVille, Cambodia Still Booming in 2010

It just doesn't stop.  New roads, new power plants, water supplies, new hotels, more islands opening up, ATM's, fast food, banks, stop lights, housing developments, even a city within a city.  SihanoukVille, Cambodia keeps growing.

And fast.

The inland marina is almost (still) finished, with many condos occupied already, the bridge to the island formerly known as Snake Island is about halfway done.  Ocheteaul and Independence beaches are getting facelifts.

Independence Hotel and Sokha Resort are adding hundreds of new rooms and bungalows, and the new Sokha Hotel on Ocheteaul beach is a few years away from completion with 1,000 new rooms.

Downtown, there's at least 4 large residential/commercial projects at least 70% finisihed which will provide more than 550 new single family homes and condos as well as commercial space.

New local and national universities are springing up and the existing ones are getting bigger.

The city behind Sokha Resort, has at least 200 apartments up, and it's not 20% finished yet.

Progress on the dozens of island projects remains sketchy, but some are advertising for investors.

The city has opened brand new goverment offices in the last year, such as a new courthouse, city hall, tax office, post office, (still no library or SihanoukVille Museum)

Tourism didn't expand too much this past year, but it didn't decrease either.

Stop lights, street lights, (and police to enforce the laws) are now all over town.
Every major holiday here stresses out the beaches and hotels, but this should get better with more rooms and more beaches opening up.

Worst of all, the local brewery, Angkor Beer, has doubled production, (which was doubled last year as well), and still has to work 24/7 to keep up with demand.

Other coastal towns around SihanoukVille, like Kampot, Kep, Bokor and Koh Kong are also following the same pattern as here, but aren't as developed yet.

It doesn't look like development is going to stop anytime soon in and around SihanoukVille.

SihanoukVille, Cambodia still booming.

SihanoukVille, Cambodia's building boom continues. It's the rainy season here in Cambodia, construction is difficult in the rain, but the number of new building sites has increased dramatically.



There's been about 15 new hotels or guesthouses opened up in SihanoukVille this year so far, and many more are preparing to open before November or December of this year, when the tourist season traditionally starts.

Many businesses posted their best month on record this past July, as tourist from Europe descended upon town.

The SihanoukVille Port is continuing expansion, a record number of cruise ships and foreign warships are scheduled to use the port facilities, the airport (possibly) is getting ready for scheduled flights.

A city within a city, on several (dozens?) of hectares of land, behind the Sokha Resort has been announced, which will include hotels, residences and offices.

The bridge to the island formerly known as Snake Island continues, and should be finished by 2010 or 2011, and the marina next to the mainland side of the bridge has already rented, sold, or leased several properties, some already occupied.

Real estate prices are climbing again, after about a 30% drop in prices during the past year.

Not much is known about the island developments and oilfield developments off shore.

SihanoukVille, Cambodia. May 2009. Still going strong.

SihanoukVille, Cambodia's still growing as usual. Fortunately, the pace of growth has slowed.

Real estate sales have slowed down, and prices have decreased about 30%, year on year, but new hotels, guesthouses, casinos and the like continue to go up.


The SihanoukVille Port is scheduled for another multi-year expansion.
The beginnings of a railroad refurbishment should start soon.

SihanoukVille's Port has seen greatly increasing traffic of passenger cruise ships and naval ships here on R&R and goodwill tours.

Tourism has seen a slight increase, but nothing like the increases of the last several years.

A major new city within a city had it's groundbreaking in back of the Sokha Hotel complex.

Construction continues on the bridge to the Island formerly known as Snake (but almost nobody knows the new name).

The old bus station and park behind the station is well on it's way to being the tallest building in SihanoukVille.

Several new housing and condo developments are going on in and around town.

The SihanoukVille Airport still hasn't seen much activity, and gas drilling operations out in the Bay of Thailand off our shores seems to have slowed as well. Not too much information on any construction projects on the islands, but they all (most?) seem to have been leased out.

Our neighbors in Kampot, Bokor and Kep, near the Vietnam border, have also seen a lot of new projects announced, including a new port. It's only a 90 drive from SihanoukVille.

All the bridges between SihanoukVille and Koh Kong (Thailand Border) are up, and this is a beautiful ride through the mountains and jungle. Even route 4, from SihanoukVille to Phnom Penh seems to be undergoing expansion.