Ratanakiri provincial officials have appealed to foreign investors to build a new airport on a 1,400-hectare plot of land in Lumphat district to attract tourism
During a press conference on Tuesday, Nhem Sam Oeun, governor of Ratanakiri Province, said, “When we meet investors, especially foreign investors, they ask us if we have an airport. Now we are trying to work on that to push to have [one] and help the tourism sector.”
“We plan to show the new airport location, we arranged this location of around 1,400 hectares. It is very large. Now, we are looking for investors because the location is central between Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Stung Treng and Kratie,” Sam Oeun added.
He said that in Ratanakiri province, there are three main sectors of tourism, agro-industry and mineral resources. Today, the province has started to focus on tourism as the main potential sector to invest in.
Sam Oeun confirmed that civil aviation authorities have handed over the old airport in Banlung City to the provincial administration to become a public park.
The old airport in Banlung city was built in the 1960s and abandoned for almost 20 years before it was rediscovered by local airlines in the mid-1990. It closed in 2006.
