The world’s tallest twin towers will be built in Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh but doubts about the building’s commercial viability are casting a pall on its prospects this early in the game.
The “Thai Boon Roong Twin Tower Trade Center” is being jointly developed by Cambodian firm, Thai Boon Roong and Chinese contractor, the Kia Nip Group.
The mixed-used tower complex will be 560 meters high and include 133 floors. It will be worth over $1 billion. Thai Boon Roong Twin Trade Center will become Asia’s tallest tower, and a new icon for Phnom Penh, said the company.
It will be located on the five-hectare Dream Land plot in the Tonle Bassac commune in Phnom Penh. It will feature a hotel, commercial office spaces, a cultural center, retail and shopping centers, entertainment facilities, residential areas, exhibition halls and a four-floor underground parking lot.
A consortium led by Sino Great Wall International Engineering won a $2.7 billion contract last week to build Thai Boon Roong Twin Tower Trade Center. Sino Great Wall said construction is expected to take some 60 months.
Sino Great Wall International Engineering is a leading Chinese property construction contractor and a subsidiary of Sino Great Wall.
The project will begin once the consortium of Sino Great Wall International and another Chinese company, Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry, finalize the funding.
The current tallest twin towers in the world are the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Petronas has 88 floors and is 452 meters high.
Doubts over the financial future of the project stems from the Thai Boon Roong Group being owned by “trigger happy” Chinese-Khmer businessman Teng Bunma. The hot-headed Teng is notorious for pointing guns at his opponents during disputes.
He’s also banned from entering the United States for being a suspected international drug smuggler.
Thai Boon Roong also owns Cambodia’s tallest building (the 39-storey Vattanac Capital Building), which has had huge occupancy problems. Vattanac Capital had an occupancy rate of only 30 percent by mid-2016.
The fortunes of this building do not bode well for the future of Asia’s tallest twin towers — which might well become a “White Elephant” — despite the rapid growth of office, retail and condominium projects in Phnom Penh.