Sep 08, 2010
O.J. Fall
Property Report
Cambodia’s plans announced in August to build South East Asia’s tallest tower at 555m continues to generate substantial discussion across the region and wider property industry.
The announcement comes at a time when the region seems to be engaged in a rather cold war-esque skyscraper battle, such as that which Stalin undertook against the US leaving great monoliths dotted across the Moscow cityscape.
Across South East Asia, led by Malaysia’s Petronas Towers, which were the world’s tallest building until 2004, each country has sought to redefine the region’s cityscape.
Thailand’s innovative 310m MahaNakhorn development, announced in 2009 and standing just 10m shy of the Eiffel Tower’s spire actually exceeds Singapore’s skyscraper collective that are limited to 280m by the proximity of the airport to the city centre.
As such Vietnam had, until Cambodia’s announcement, been at the van guard of this region’s ‘skyscraper race’. Parallels between Soviet Russia and Vietnam’s communist government aside, it seems that Vietnam is closer to grasping the nettle than any other party in the region. Call it a communist obstinacy or perhaps more realistically a further testament to Vietnam’s endurance and meteoric rise over the lat twenty years, projects announced in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are looking strong.
Hanoi’s proposed 528m tower to be built by the PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corporation (PVC) at a cost of US$1.2 billion by 2014 follows on from the Bitexco Financial Tower that will open in October this year, standing at 262.5m.
It is however a substantial jump from the 250 – 310m range to over 500m.
Vietnam obviously feels the need to make a statement, announcing its presence on the regional and world stage. Deeper motives behind Cambodia’s announcement than making a bold statement are somewhat elusive.
As an economy that still relies on substantial donor funding to operate (accounting for half of the central government’s budget) and though its garment industry has taken off, with the promise of some future oil and gas returns too, the population lacks education and productive skills, particularly in the poverty-ridden countryside, which suffers from an almost total lack of basic infrastructure.
By its effort to stride out of its dark past, could Cambodia’s new tower yet become an icon of delusional grandeur? Well, the project is not impossible, but challenges await and there is no doubt the US$200 million price tag could be put to better uses across the country. Cambodia’s developing construction industry will require foreign assistance, that is a given, but even the proposed location of the tower will poses its own issues.
Diamond Island has only existed for 100 years and with the constant flux of the great Mekong River there is no guarantee that the island will remain in years to come without substantial and expensive engineering works. All of which will be dictated by the market’s demand for such a property.
On top of that Cambodia’s property market is still developing and though skyscrapers continue to arise from the city built on banks of the Mekong, there is no guarantee that the market will be able to accommodate, nor fill such a development. To date, Phnom Penh’s towers have hovered around the 25 storey, 170m mark.
Such a development can re-define cities and countries on the global stage. But the same applies whether these developments are succeed or fail.
Cambodia’s plans announced in August to build South East Asia’s tallest tower at 555m continues to generate substantial discussion across the region and wider property industry.
The announcement comes at a time when the region seems to be engaged in a rather cold war-esque skyscraper battle, such as that which Stalin undertook against the US leaving great monoliths dotted across the Moscow cityscape.
Across South East Asia, led by Malaysia’s Petronas Towers, which were the world’s tallest building until 2004, each country has sought to redefine the region’s cityscape.
Thailand’s innovative 310m MahaNakhorn development, announced in 2009 and standing just 10m shy of the Eiffel Tower’s spire actually exceeds Singapore’s skyscraper collective that are limited to 280m by the proximity of the airport to the city centre.
As such Vietnam had, until Cambodia’s announcement, been at the van guard of this region’s ‘skyscraper race’. Parallels between Soviet Russia and Vietnam’s communist government aside, it seems that Vietnam is closer to grasping the nettle than any other party in the region. Call it a communist obstinacy or perhaps more realistically a further testament to Vietnam’s endurance and meteoric rise over the lat twenty years, projects announced in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are looking strong.
Hanoi’s proposed 528m tower to be built by the PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corporation (PVC) at a cost of US$1.2 billion by 2014 follows on from the Bitexco Financial Tower that will open in October this year, standing at 262.5m.
It is however a substantial jump from the 250 – 310m range to over 500m.
Vietnam obviously feels the need to make a statement, announcing its presence on the regional and world stage. Deeper motives behind Cambodia’s announcement than making a bold statement are somewhat elusive.
As an economy that still relies on substantial donor funding to operate (accounting for half of the central government’s budget) and though its garment industry has taken off, with the promise of some future oil and gas returns too, the population lacks education and productive skills, particularly in the poverty-ridden countryside, which suffers from an almost total lack of basic infrastructure.
By its effort to stride out of its dark past, could Cambodia’s new tower yet become an icon of delusional grandeur? Well, the project is not impossible, but challenges await and there is no doubt the US$200 million price tag could be put to better uses across the country. Cambodia’s developing construction industry will require foreign assistance, that is a given, but even the proposed location of the tower will poses its own issues.
Diamond Island has only existed for 100 years and with the constant flux of the great Mekong River there is no guarantee that the island will remain in years to come without substantial and expensive engineering works. All of which will be dictated by the market’s demand for such a property.
On top of that Cambodia’s property market is still developing and though skyscrapers continue to arise from the city built on banks of the Mekong, there is no guarantee that the market will be able to accommodate, nor fill such a development. To date, Phnom Penh’s towers have hovered around the 25 storey, 170m mark.
Such a development can re-define cities and countries on the global stage. But the same applies whether these developments are succeed or fail.
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