Construction, Oil, Land in SihanoukVille, Cambodia.

The Beverly Hillbillies are missing out on the oil boom in SihanoukVille, Cambodia. While only a few will benefit directly from the oil and gas coming out of the ocean, SihanoukVille is becoming the base for all the oilfield exploration, drilling and soon refining in Cambodia. Many hotels have booked blocks of rooms for several months for the drilling companies, and the services that support them. And several new hotels, big and small are going up all over town.

Land prices have started to climb a bit, after levelling of for the last several months. Several new large scale construction project, mostly housing and retail/office space, have started up in the last few months, not including the ongoing projects. Snake Island, and the bridge to Snake Island have only just started, and the marina on the mainland is almost finished.

The town put in a couple stoplights, but haven't turned them on yet. A 'nother bank has opened downtown to get the total up to around 10.

New islands, that nobody noticed before, have been sold off, in the Billions of dollars to large investment groups. Little is known about what activities have been going on though.

A new oil refinery, dam, and electicity power station are going up. Streets are being upgraded. Yet you can still get cable T.V. (in about 12 different languages) for $4 a month.

One company is starting an executive, gated housing project with Western style construction.

Most of the high end hotels are booked from November 'til April of 2009, and a few are pre-booked up to 2012.

There's more, but that's enough for now.

Sold

Most of the island have been sold off, though there's a few (and parts of a few) left.

Thar's oil out there, and the supporting services for oil exploration and drilling are starting to set up operations in town. Rumored a few have hit already, but still don't know the full extent of the reserves in the area. (Guessing it's pretty substantial)

The bridge to Snake Island has begun construction, and they're looking for investors and opportunities on the island. The Marina and Snake Island are possibly owned by the same group now, and this will probably help the whole project succeed much better than if they were separate.

Real estate sales are very slow, and prices are steady, but haven't declined at all. There's about a dozen condo/apartment/townhouse projects going up around town that are new in the last 6 months.

Several small and medium sized hotels on the mainland are going up, and a few condo projects are either almost finished, or just finished. The island seem to be attracting the biggest money, by far, though nothing is completed yet, except Mirax Resort.

Tourism in the rainy season (like right now) is about triple what it's been in the last few years. Don't know the reason.

No news on the new power plant going up, or the oil refinery near Steung Hauv.

If you know any more, please leave a post!

Building up SihanoukVille

Some recent progress on SihanoukVille's infrastructure.

* The bridge to Snake Island has officially started construction
Plans are for the island to be a large resort and residential place.
The marina, which is at the base of the bridge on the mainland will have condos, a shopping mall, and many services. The marina is still about 80% finished (except for a couple big buildings)

* No news on oil drilling, but not too many helicopters flying overhead lately.

* and the helicopters were the only users of the SihanoukVille Airport, which still does not have any scheduled flights.

* The town's public hospital is expanding, thanks in part to Bill Gates (Gates Foundation is one of the donors to the new Lab building). And another building is going up next to the AIDS clinic, run by the French Red Cross.

* All the bridges between Koh Kong and SihanoukVille (and Phnom Penh) are finished, which shortens the ride between these places dramatically. Should bring more tourists to SihanoukVille from Thailand, as the trip is now shorter and cheaper.

* A large coal fired power plant will be constructed in town, with completion several years away.

* A small oil refinery and delivery infrastructure is planned (being built?) on the road to Steung Hauv, outside of town.

* The first 2 traffic lights have been installed (not yet turned on) downtown.

* Still waiting for KFC to come to town as planned.

* Another bank opened, and another bank is already planned for downtown. This makes about 10 banks in town.

* Land prices are going up, but much more slowly than in the past couple of years.
Several land development project, large and small have begun around town. Condos townhouses, shopping complexes, single family home complexes. And the number of real estate sales offices is also going up.

* Don't know of any progress on the islands off the coast of SihanoukVille, but it's hard to tell what's going on out there.

* Many new government buildings are going up around town.

and that's about it!

The BOOM Continues

According to the billboards around town, SihanoukVille will soon take over from Bangkok as the largest city in South-East Asia.

Condos, apartments, duplexes, and quadruplexes. Hi-rises and low-rises. Marinas, airport complexes and golf courses are all under construction, or planned.

The SihanoukVille airport should have domestic flights by the middle of the year, international flights by the end of the year, and by the end of 2009, should be the main transit and shipping airport for the whole country.

The Marina on Hawaii Beach looks to be about 80% complete, and is going up very quickly.

On SihanoukVille mountain, most of the land has been cleared, and most impressive project is a set of 8 Western style houses with swimming pools in a gated community.

Out past the new market (which is scheduled to be the old market, after the old market burned down and is being rebuilt to be the New, new market), a few large developments consisting of 10 and 20 story condos, single family housing and markets have begun construction and pre-sales. Around town, several smaller apartment building are near completion or have just been completed.

Prices are still going up, but not at the pace of the last few years.

The expansion of the main yards and docks at the SihanoukVille Port seem to be finished, and since imports and exports keep growing, it's really good timing.

Several international operations have been seen in town looking for factory sites. And the Japanese and Chinese have committed a lot of capital for developing the free trade zones.

The 1,000 room Sokha project, scheduled for opening in 2013 has slowed to a crawl. Could be the Billion dollar project in SihanoukVille's sister city on Bokor Mountain that is occupying them for the moment. They will probably get to work on it soon, as their flagship Sokha Resort was well booked for the tourist season, and is fully booked already for the next season.

Only problem now, is they can't build high end resorts fast enough for the demand.

No word on any progress on the islands, but it's hard to see unless you go out to the islands and look for yourself.

By the number of helicopters flying overhead and out to sea, there's probably some major activity going on in the newly discovered oil fields a couple hundred miles offshore.

The 10th bank in town may have opened already. We don't want to have to walk more than 50 meters from anywhere to get to an ATM machine, so they could cover some gaps.

This is the first week after Cambodian (Khmer) New Years, and the town has quieted down from the festivities. Downtown is rather quiet, but the beaches seem to be pulling in lots of tourists still.

Until more.....

Later.