Siem Reap Airport being planned
The famed Angkor Wat temples continue to attract overwhelming interest, prompting Cambodia to look for means to accommodate the traffic within and outside Siem Reap – the gateway town to Angkor.
The Kingdom saw 2.3 million visitors last year; around 50 percent of them visited Angkor Wat. Each day, about 7,000 people explores the Angkor, which had already endured damages from the Khmer Rouge and Vietnam’s invasion.
Cambodian authorities are now planning a new airport to be located 40 miles from Siem Reap to reduce noise pollution to the Angkor Wat complex. The $1 billion airport would have the capacity to handle long-haul Boeing 747 aircraft allowing direct links to the Americas and Europe.
Cambodia’s Development Council has already approved the proposal, according to local reports, adding that it now awaits the signature of the prime minister.
The planned Siem Reap International Airport and related developments are set to become the most ambitious project in the history of Cambodia.
To be completed by 2015, the development project is likely to include a dry port, a 15.4 sq-m city, and an adjacent “Special Economic Zone.”
Upon completion of the $500 million first phase of the project, the airport will be able to handle four million passengers per year, and 15 million following expansion.
Authorities have also turned their attention to Banteay Chhmar dubbed as “the second Angkor.” The non-profit organization Global Heritage Fund is restoring the temple complex, which had been sleeping for 800 years. Authorities are hoping that Banteay Chhmar could ease some of the traffic to Angkor.
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