Cambodia boasts of plan for Asia’s tallest skyscraper in sleepy low-rise capital

Cambodia boasts plans for Asia’s tallest building

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Impoverished Cambodia plans to build a 1,820-foot (555-meter) skyscraper, its prime minister said Wednesday, a feat that would give one of the region’s least-developed capitals the tallest building in Asia.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said he had approved a master plan for the skyscraper, which would be located about half a mile (one kilometer) from the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh — a dusty city of colonial villas, slums and one standout skyscraper, the recently completed Canadia Tower that is about 377 feet (115 meters) high.

Hun Sen did not say when construction would start, how much it would cost or give any other details, except that it would be built by a Cambodian company, Overseas Cambodia Investment Corp., owned by tycoon Pung Khiav Se.

The company’s project manager, Touch Samnang, said preliminary estimates suggest the building would cost $200 million, but the project was being studied by experts and government ministries. He said it would include a shopping mall, hotel, apartments and an entertainment center.

That figure is dwarfed by the sum for what is currently Asia’s tallest building, the Taipei 101 in Taiwan. Rising 1,667 feet (508 meters), it cost about $1.6 billion. It had been the world’s tallest since 2004 but was overtaken in January when Dubai unveiled the Burj Khalifa, which rises 2,717 feet (828 meters) from the desert.

Cambodia, whose commerce is tiny by international standards, has been experiencing a real estate bubble for the past few years, but several ambitious construction projects have been delayed or suspended.