Subterranean parking project gets under way

Workers erect a fence at a Phnom Penh intersection yesterday where the construction of an underground car park is set to begin. Pha Lina

PPP 12 Jan, 2016 Niem Chheng

A giant underground car park is in the works for downtown Phnom Penh.

The two-storey facility is set to open in October this year adjacent to the capital’s railway station, near Canadia Tower and Vattanac Capital Tower, according to Chhin Hok, manager for the Overseas Cambodian Investment Corporation (OCIC), which is responsible for the project.

“The parking area will be over two floors, which together cover 7,200 square metres,” he said. “If both floors are used for parking, the space could accommodate as many as 300 cars.”

However, Hok added, there was a possibility that part of the underground area could be given up to shops.

According to City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche, the project will be built beneath an existing park, and will be only a piece of a larger project.

“The underground parking lot will be part of a three-storey construction, including a shopping mall, and will be located under the public park of a Buddhist stupa in front of the train station,” Dimanche said. 

Construction is due to start this month, according to Hok.

OCIC is an investment conglomerate that is behind some of the capital’s largest retail and residential projects. In October, it announced it was spending $60 million to build Olympia Plaza, a seven-storey shopping mall inside the company’s Olympia City project.