A hotel catering to foreign investors and expatriate employees is being built inside the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ), management confirmed yesterday.

“We target ex-pats, now there are 250 ex-pats working [within the zone], plus hundreds of businessmen visiting factories abroad for their business,” said Hiroshi Uematsu, CEO of the special economic zone, which houses mostly garment factories.

The project will be constructed through a joint venture between PPSEZ and the Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Tama Home.

Takeuchi Toru, a representative of Tama Home, said in an email yesterday that the hotel will be ready in September of 2015.

As for why it’s being built, Toru said that “there are no good hotels for foreign business people around PPSEZ”.

Many of the factories inside the zone are owned by Japanese companies.

“Cambodia is enjoying economic growth that has been created by companies in developed countries sending their employees to Cambodia on long-term assignments,” a statement from Tama Home’s annual report says.

With concerns about a slowdown hitting the Japanese housing market, Tama is expanding its presence overseas – in particular in developing markets, according to the annual statement.

News of the hotel comes just weeks after the Post reported that PPSEZ plans to go public on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX). The PPSEZ listing is intended to raise money for an expansion of the zone, Sok Dara, deputy director general of the exchange commission, said last month.

There are close to 50 factories in full operation, and the number is growing.