A USD500m integrated leisure and gaming resort complex is to be built in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
The project is within easy reach of the famous tourist destination of Angkor Wat, a temple complex listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. Nearly two thirds of Cambodia’s 1.5m foreign visitors in 2007 passed through Siem Reap on the way to Angkor. To take advantage of the ‘brand recognition’ of the heritage site with tourists, the casino project will be known as Angkor Park Resort.
The Korean company Intercity Group acquired the gaming business licence for the new resort as a monopoly from the Cambodian government in December, according to the firm’s official spokesman, Ben Lee of IGamiX.
Mr Lee says the project has the support of the regional government at a time when many international and domestic development projects have been cancelled or delayed due to the global economic downturn.
Intercity Group, a property developer and architecture design business, first drew up the project in 2006. It will feature a casino with 300 tables; an 18-hole golf course; three hotels (one four-star, one five-star and one boutique), shops, a convention centre and a water park.
The Angkor Park Resort site is located 20 kilometers north of Angkor Wat, just outside the designated National Heritage Zone.
Intercity Group plans to raise funds from financial investors and strategic investors in early 2009.
The ground-breaking ceremony is due to be held in the first quarter of 2009. Cambodia’s prime minister Hun Sen is expected to preside over the ceremony.
The first phase opening is scheduled to be completed in 2010, with the second phase coming on line in 2011.
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