Feature article on Sihanoukville in today's Phnom Penh Post:

Big trouble in little China?
Exploring Chinese investment in Sihanoukville
By Kali Kotoski and Cheng Sokhorng in Preah Sihanouk province
Friday, December 8, 2017

The coastal city of Sihanoukville is undergoing a massive transformation. Once perceived as a seedy haunt for lethargic backpackers and expats, a flood of Chinese tourists and investors has begun to alter the landscape by setting up everything from gaudy casinos to towering luxury resorts as well as restaurants, street stalls and shops on the once-sleepy city streets.

But as the beach town changes and the government welcomes the surge in development spending, it is becoming clear that Chinese investment has created a closed loop with few new opportunities for Cambodians, forcing locals out of any potential economic gain.

While Sihanoukville has long been a part of the government’s plan to develop the southern coast as Cambodia’s next tourism hotspot after Siem Reap, Taing Socheat Kroesna, director of the Preah Sihanouk Provincial Tourism Department, said that this year has seen a dramatic surge in Chinese visitors primarily drawn to Chinese-run casinos.

Currently there are 24 legally registered casinos in Sihanoukville, up from the 15 there were at the end of 2015, he said, with the vast majority owned and operated by Chinese investors looking to cash in on increased flight connections from the mainland...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-depth ... le-china-0

Cambodia goes all-in on China in casino port city
8 December 2017
SIHANOUKVILLE (REUTERS) - Between Sihanoukville's beaches and its multiplying casinos, Mr Lao Qi and Mr Bun Saroeun run restaurants barely a hundred dusty metres apart. But their fortunes could not be more different.

For while Mr Lao Qi is riding the Chinese boom that brought him and thousands of others from China to the Cambodian resort, Mr Bun Saroeun's business was built on low-budget Western visitors. It is far less profitable and now he faces eviction.

Sihanoukville starkly illustrates how Cambodia's ever-tightening relationship with China is transforming the country. Just as China's aid and investment have helped Prime Minister HE defy Western criticism of a crackdown on his opponents, they are also binding Cambodia's economy ever more closely to China's.

But a steady trickle of Chinese money into its casinos has now swelled to a tide that promises to remodel a city touted by developers as the first port of call on China's "Belt and Road".

"This is like China 20 years ago. The opportunity is huge," said Mr Lao Qi, 33, who goes by his nickname and first moved here from China's Zhejiang province to work in a casino. His noodles and fried rice can now make him hundreds of dollars a day.

Down the road at the Ecstatic Pizza restaurant, 59-year-old Mr Bun Saroeun counts himself lucky to make over US$100 (S$135) a day. Rising hotel prices and the noise of construction are discouraging Western visitors and Cambodian tourists from the city, he says.

"A few Chinese came here but now they have their own restaurants," said Mr Bun Saroeun, whose landlord is now evicting him to redevelop the prime property near the Occhuteal Beach.

The Chinese influx is very much by design. In charge of the city is governor Yun Min, the former regional military commander and a close ally of Mr HE. He made trips to China himself to encourage investors and offer them protection...
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asi ... -port-city

does the sewage just soak away into the water table on site for these places?

frank lee bent wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2017 12:57 pm does the sewage just soak away into the water table on site for these places?

Intresting frank. best not take a long dip in the sea.

What sewage ?
Same as always I guess.

Username Taken wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2017 1:26 pm Doesn't the sewage just run into the road side drains? Then, at night-time, Chinese guys come along and remove the sludge to make fish sauce.

Cooking oil actually

Doesn't seem to be a youtube embedding icon!



Admin Edit: You don't need the put the [url] boxes, just the link. Working now!

I see you use the media embed icon, I was looking for a you tube icon. Cheers

The coastal city of Sihanoukville is undergoing a massive transformation. Once perceived as a seedy haunt for lethargic backpackers and expats, a flood of Chinese tourists and investors has begun to alter the landscape by setting up everything from gaudy casinos to towering luxury resorts as well as restaurants, street stalls and shops on the once-sleepy city streets.

But as the beach town changes and the government welcomes the surge in development spending, it is becoming clear that Chinese investment has created a closed loop with few new opportunities for Cambodians, forcing locals out of any potential economic gain.

Under usual situations local people would find work with such new ventures. With the new hotels I would have thought there would have been plenty of hospitality jobs available. Such as security and maintenance. Maids, cooks and so on.