"Reflecting On China-Cambodia’s Dara Sakor Project, 15 Years In" 28 June 2023

It was 2008 when the Cambodian government appointed the Chinese-owned Union Development Group (UDG), a subsidiary of Wanlong Group based in Tianjin, to build a $3.8 billion mega project in Dara Sakor. 

UDG was equipped with a 99-year lease and was mandated to build an international airport,  a deep-water seaport, an industrial park, and luxury resort facilities in the country’s special economic zone. The complex is designed to utilize about 20 percent of Cambodia’s coastal area, covering around 36,000 hectares of land, estimated to be around half the size of Singapore.

Cambodia has borne much of the burden in keeping the project alive, including sacrificing the surrounding environment and the livelihood of the local people and fending off accusations from the U.S. which claims that Dara Sakor would be used as China’s military base. Now, it is perhaps a good time to ask what can Cambodia stand to benefit from this multi-billion dollar project. 

Out of the many infrastructures it was expected to have built, only the construction of the Dara Sakor International Airport has been finished. And still, there is no report that the airport will be opened at the expected date, which was set to be in the mid of 2023. [...]

In 2021, one of Cambodia’slast remaining independent media outlets, CamboJA News reported that forced displacement of the local population had occurred at the outset of this initiative, and, within just the first five years, an estimated 1,140 families from 10,000 hectares of land had been pushed out. Additionally, in 2011, around 1963 families were forced to leave while an estimated 1,500 houses were destroyed. Only about 1,333 families received half-hearted compensation over a decade after. 

Dara Sakor Project has also threatened the ecosystem in the Botum Sakor National Park, which is home to more than 500 birds and 44 mammal species including critically endangered species. [...]