Koh Rong is about to get Phu Quoced

Name revealed for Indonesia's new capital city, Smart City development project in Vientiane, and the future longest rail tunnel in Southeast Asia begins construction.

Last week’s news letter featured Sihanoukville Part I, and Part II was mean to be this week. Instead, I got sidetracked by Koh Rong in Sihanoukville Province. This sleepy island has been on the developers drawing board for years, and it looks like things are going to ramp up soon. Nothing much can be done until a road is built around the island, and the road is now nearly finished.

[Road building on Koh Rong.]

I knew this island was going to be developed, but I didn’t realise by how much until I saw the development maps around the island. Most of the coast is given over to future resorts, of which one section is dedicated for casinos. Not just one casino, but a whole area (as if there aren’t enough casinos in nearby Sihanoukville). To feed this mega tourist project there is a new airport planned in the middle of the island. It looks like Koh Rong is getting inspiration from nearby Phu Quoc in VIetnam.

Meanwhile, in Kampot (where I am now) there is a 36+ storey two-tower development being built in the historic old town area. There is no information about this project (no sales page and I can’t find any website of the listed developers) so I have made a page to collect more information. I call these pages “lightning rod pages”. By being the only page about it on the internet I hope to gather more information about it. I’m also looking for photos of the buildings that were demolished.

[Thai Boon Roong Kampot Building.]

Kampot was looking to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, but there is no chance of that happening if the city allows a whole city block to be demolished to build an apartment tower.

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🇰🇭 Cambodia

I visited Kep this week, and I saw a convoy of trucks dumping dirt along the coastline near the crab market. I will have Future Kep and Kep Construction Report once I have worked through the backlog of Southern Cambodia news.

🇮🇩 Indonesia

“Fallout from Jakarta-Bandung rail project may damage ties with Japan and China.”

“The Indonesian rail operator KAI remains one of the country’s more well-run and capable state-owned companies.”

🇱🇦 Laos

🇲🇾 Malaysia

“The two TBMs, reputed to be the biggest of its kind in Southeast Asia, will carve out access through the Titiwangsa range to connect Bentong with Gombak.”

This tunnel project will take three years. At 16.39km, this is the longest rail tunnel in South-East Asia.

[Updated: East Coast Rail Link]

Kuantan Port will be connected to the ECRL.

“The tallest elevated road in the country, linking Ayer Itam and Bayan Lepas on Penang, is finally open, but traffic was light on the first day.”

“Papan was once a busy tin mining town and has a number of heritage buildings, such as the palace of founder and former ruler, Raja Bilah, and its mosque.”

🇵🇭 Philippines

🇸🇬 Singapore

🇹🇭 Thailand

“Bangkok's indifference to Beijing's plan creates gap in Belt and Road network.”

“The cabinet has ordered the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) to quickly design and build a second bridge from Nong Khai province to Laos, to connect to the new China-Laos railway.”

The China-Laos railway began construction on Christmas Day in 2016. It took just 5 years to build the railway. Meanwhile, the SRT are still deliberating about building a bridge to connect to it.

🇻🇳 Vietnam

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