Cambodia holds international expo on architecture, construction

(Xinhua News Agency) -- A three-day world expo on architecture and construction kicked off here Friday as the country's construction sector has been showing a sign of recovery after two-year slump.

The event has brought together 40 exhibitors from Japan, China, Italy, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, said Le Thanh Tam, CEO of International Digital Group to ASEAN, which is the organizer.

"Those companies are manufacturers of construction materials and equipment, and architecture firms,"he said, adding"this event is very important for suppliers and developers to meet for business cooperation."

Im Chhun Lim, minister of land management, urban planning and construction, said that during opening the expo that the event was held coincided with the recovery of the country's construction after the impact from the global financial crisis in 2008.

"Within the first two months of this year, the ministry has observed that the number of developers applied for construction licenses has increased 50 percent, especially mega-projects, if compared to the same period last year,"he said.

"This demonstrated the gradual recovery of the sector after it was hard-hit by the crisis since 2008,"he said.
One of the exhibitors is the Guangdong Kin Long Hardware Products from China.

"We have observed that the construction sector in Cambodia has grown very fast in recent years,"Sandy Lee, regional sales manager of Kin Long to South Asia, told Xinhua, adding "the fast growth can be a good opportunity for our company to expand our presence here."

The company specialized in manufacturing all types of construction materials, so far, it has 30 branches throughout Asia, Middle East, and Europe, he added.

Cambodia's construction and real estate sector have faced the downturn since the global financial crisis in 2008.

The report from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction showed that the investments on the country's real estate developments have constantly declined from 3.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2008 to 1.98 billion U.S. dollars in 2009 and further drop to 840 million U.S. dollars in 2010.

Also, land prices in the city had dropped further 10 percent in 2010 after declining up to 40 percent in 2009, according to the record by the National Valuers Association of Cambodia (NVAC).