Environmental fears as new Mekong island carved out in Phnom Penh
A major land reclamation in the Mekong has forged ahead in what developers say will be the second Diamond Island. But while land filling elsewhere in the city has been met with unease, this mega-project has taken shape unbothered by current or controversy
Written By: Andrew Haffner
September 22, 2020

The scale of Koh Norea, as seen from a drone. Photo: Enric Català Contreras
Borin Sopheavuthtey, Toch Thina and Yeang Sothearin contributed to this report. All photos by Enric Català Contreras.

Even as massive machines pound and grumble through the day, pouring tonnes of sand into a reclamation on the Mekong River, Koh Norea has taken form quietly.

The new island has made only a minor splash in local media, finding its way mainly onto construction and real estate blogs. For residents of the bankside area of the Chbar Ampov district of Phnom Penh, however, the construction has been impossible to miss. Since about May of this year, the growing land mass has crept closer by the day amid the industrial din and haze of diesel exhaust from a 100 hectare land reclamation project driven by the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation, one of the country’s largest and best-connected developers.

In recent months, workers have driven a retaining wall deep into the riverbed just a stone’s throw from the head of the Bassac river. After reinforcing the wall with rubble and earth, they cleared the way for crews on rusted barges to pour in an endless slurry of wet sand – cordoning off and replacing a stretch of the mighty Mekong with lucrative dirt.

It’s a big project, and a messy one. But on the eve of the Pchum Ben public holiday last week, a hush fell over the industrial noise as labourers took time off work to rest and return to their home villages. It was only a brief respite for Sreylean, the operator of a riverside restaurant who says her business has been levelled as Koh Norea has grown.
The retaining wall and future bank of the new land stands before the construction towers of Koh Pich

“Usually you can constantly hear it,” said Sreylean, who asked that her real name be withheld. “People used to come here for fresh air and the views of the river, but now they don’t seem to want to … The fresh air is gone. It’s like we are suffocating now.”

But even for those who can’t escape the project in their backyard, solid details about Koh Norea have been sparse. Neither OCIC nor the Cambodian government have made public any social or environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies completed for the site, which has been identified in past river studies as a particularly challenging area to manage. With billions on the table, the lack of transparency at Koh Norea has obscured the project’s real weight at a time when major infrastructure projects upstream have limited the Mekong river system in Cambodia to a battered trickle of its past self.

Land reclamation schemes are hardly new to the Kingdom and its capital, which garnered international controversy with the filling of Boeung Kak lake in 2010 and the eviction of those who lived around it, then following suit over the decade with several other reclamations.

At the centre of all these projects is rubble and sand, earth gauged from one place – oftentimes the bed of the Mekong itself – to squeeze out water somewhere else.
The extent of the Koh Norea project can be seen from above through Google Earth.

Phnom Penh’s riverside real estate is some of the most hotly desired anywhere in the capital, so even though the Koh Norea landfill could cost the OCIC an estimated $2 billion to complete, the return on that investment would likely far exceed that.

Koh Pich, an earlier OCIC project that also began as a 100 hectare infill on a small existing island in the Mekong, already seems a worthwhile investment for the firm, with 2014 media reports quoting land valuations as high as $3,500 per square metre. This figure, likely to be matched on Koh Norea, is comparable to a high-end apartment in Ho Chi Minh city.
Full article : https://southeastasiaglobe.com/koh-nore ... ent-fears/

Reminder of previous articles on this topic:
Article from 2019.
OCIC to spend $2 billion in Koh Norea satellite city development
Oct. 28, 2019, 12:20 p.m.

Overseas Cambodian Investment Corporation (OCIC) plans to spend approximately two billion U.S dollar in a new satellite city development in districts adjacent to Phnom Penh, according to media reports.

According to a report by Khmer Times, in February 2019, OCIC has announced the development of Koh Norea satellite city, a 100-hectare project stretching from Koh Norea to Kean Svay district in Kandal province. Some parts of the site where the project is sitting on will be filled with sand.

Touch Samnang, OCIC’s deputy director at the time was quoted as saying, “The project is happening. It will be the size of an actual city, covering over 100 hectares of land. Like Koh Pich, a bridge will be built to facilitate travel.”

“To build the city, we will fill the river bank with sand, starting in Koh Norea and ending in Kien Svay,” he added.
https://www.realestate.com.kh/news/ocic ... lite-city/

Then CEO News reported an update on the progress of this development, shared by the OCIC(developer), in June 2020: post430751.html?hilit=koh%20norea#p430751

They are Gods, you know, our leaders
so of course it can be done

John Bingham wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2020 1:36 am It might not be such a bad idea, the north end of Chhba Ampul was basically disappearing with erosion anyway.





From Aruna

But is it not true many locals in the area believe the land erosion is due to sand dredging.

'Amazing what you can achieve when you are not inhibited by a christian education

John Bingham wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2020 1:36 am It might not be such a bad idea, the north end of Chhba Ampul was basically disappearing with erosion anyway.

Erosion caused by sand farming and the filling of Koh Pich. The Bassac widened on the Chbar Ampov side as the Koh Pic side was filled.

Take a look below. The (first) image on the left is February 2003.
The (second) image on the right is July 2005. Note that by July the river is flooding to the extent that the Tonle Sap has reversed. The 'degradation' in this image is more likely just normal annual flooding.




Next, Once again February 2003 on the left, compared to December 2010 on the right.
I'd say that if Koh Pich had been left in its natural state, the erosion of Chbar Ampov would not have happened.

Absolutely makes sense to me, Ute ^^^
In fact, i would have to toss out the window all my understandings of the working of the universe if we did not see this erosion right here right now,

I know that if you put a rock wall or similar hard structure on a sea front, the coastline immediately down-current
will experience accelerated erosion.
(coastal erosion is caused by "long shore drift", ie currents running parallel with the coastline. usually predominant in one direct)

Coastal Geography #101. Hydrodynamics #101.
It's why sea walls for erosion protection are so contentious - they protect the land behind the wall but cause great damage to the land immediately adjacent.
...and the domino effect continues...

one man's loss is another man's gain, but in this case, one man's gain is another man's loss. If this is truly the case Username Taken, I would not believe developers didn't know the conscience of what was going to be misfortune to others, this is the prime example of gaining land by losing some, not only that, what now of erosion of Chbar Ampov, from the loss too the waterline now, under the law the land is neather belonging to those residents.

I'm amazed by the ideas to fill in rivers to create land when there's so much of it elsewhere, how can it be cheaper?
The same thing is happening in Prey Veng