Cambodia held a virtual meeting with the Urban Planning Design Institute of Shenzhen (UPDIS) to examine updates and discuss strategically important contents.
It set the goals and priorities of the draft master plan and 12 reports of phase II of plans to develop Preah Sihanouk province into a multi-purpose model special economic zone. This will convert the province into a new development hub and a smart, green city with advanced technology. This will create a commercial hub with live services and logistics and link the province to supply chains in the region and the world.
At the December 12 consultative meeting, Vongsey Visoth, permanent secretary of state for the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said the plans and reports established short, medium and long-term development to match the national strategic plan.
He added that greenbelt management and institutional frameworks would help convert Preah Sihanouk into to a robust economic hub in the future.
“I commend the UPDIS for its leadership and efforts to prepare the plans and reports,” he continued.
He instructed a working group to revise the contents ahead of a meeting with an inter-ministerial coordination commission to develop the province, saying that the commission would examine the contents in the future.
Chheng Kimlong, director of the Asian Vision Institute’s Centre for Governance Innovation and Democracy, said the province would serve as an economic hub in the future.
“The master plan has been prepared to develop Preah Sihanouk province into a multi-purpose model special economic zone. The town of Sihanoukville will eventually overtake Phnom Penh as the most modern city in the Kingdom, especially with the expansion of its special economic zone and deep-sea port,” he added.
He continued that the preparation of the master plan is especially important as Cambodia has struck free-trade deals with China, South Korea and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), plus preferential trade agreements with the US, the UK and the “Everything But Arms” (EBA) scheme with the EU.
The UPDIS is the institute which prepared the master plan for the development of the Shenzhen zone of China.
