Kampot province’s City Hall yesterday revealed plans for a new passenger pier to siphon more coastal tourism business from Thailand and Vietnam.

Sim Vuthea, administrative director of Kampot City Hall, said the new $40 million passenger pier, which will be funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), will be located on 4 hectares of land between the border of Teuk Chhu district and Kampot City.

“The construction of the port is likely to start in mid 2015 or by the end of 2015. We are waiting for procedure progress report from the ADB and approval on how soon the project can be put to contract bidding,” Vuthea said, adding that an immigration office will also be built.

Soy Kinal, director of Kampot’s Tourism Department said the new pier could draw more foreign tourists to Cambodia from neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam by water.

“Kampot is close to the Gulf of Thailand and Phu Quc island,” Kinal said. “We can attract people from tourism islands of Thailand and Vietnam.”

Ho Vandy, co-chair of the Government-Private Sector Working Group on Tourism, said the pier will make Cambodia a more attractive destination in the Southeast Asia region.

“Foreign tourists who have tough schedules will be able to include Cambodia in their itineraries as travelling time will be shorter,” Vandy said.

The pier is one prospective project under the ADB’s Greater Mekong Subregion Tourism Infrastructure for Inclusive Growth Project. The project is set to be considered by the ADB’s board on November 24.