The State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Royal Group Koh Rong Development Company to build a new international airport on Preah Sihanouk’s Koh Rong island.
The agreement said that the Royal Group Koh Rong Development Company, of tycoon Kith Meng, will be under the framework of Build-Own-Operate (BOO) under the model of Design-Build Finance-Operate-Maintain (DBFOM).
The initial duration of the new airport, Koh Rong 4C International Airport, will be three years. The agreement did not state the size and how much it will cost to build the new airport.
However, a joint statement revealed the cost will be $300 million and will take up to five years to complete.
Mao Havannall, Minister in Charge of SSCA, said at the signing ceremony that the partnership shows sustainable economic growth for the country in the long-run, especially increasing the competitiveness of the transportation of passengers and goods, domestically and internationally.
The airport comes as the fourth to be delivered by the private sector, in addition to airports that are already under construction in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Koh Kong, Havannall said.
Havannall said that the Royal Group of Companies was given the rights as a 99-year lease concession by the government in 2018 to develop Koh Rong, the second largest island in the country.
