Worldbridge Homes Co Ltd’s $100 million affordable housing project in Kandal province’s Koh Kor village, in Sa’ang district, is on track to be completed at year’s end or at the beginning of next year, its general manager Yuk Sothirith told The Post on Wednesday.
WorldBridge Homes is a subsidiary of WorldBridge Group, whose major projects in Phnom Penh include The Bridge and The Peak buildings.
The price of the housing units in the project with dimensions 4mx7m range from $25,000 to nearly $30,000.
Sothirith said construction is currently 90 per cent complete, with Phase I – comprising 603 homes – scheduled to be completed before Khmer New Year in mid-April.
“As planned, the company will deliver the first phase of homes [to their new owners] early in April as construction is 100 per cent complete. All that remains is to connect water and electricity,” he said.
He said the project is divided into two phases, the second of which is 30 per cent complete.
During a visit to the project site on Monday, Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction Chea Sophara said the government encourages the private sector to invest in affordable housing projects, to provide suitable living spaces for the people.
“This is a joint effort between the company and the government to meet the needs of low and middle-income residents for affordable housing,” he said.
Keller Williams Sen Sok regional operation principal Sam Soknoeun said the increase in the number of people living and working in Phnom Penh has led to higher demand for housing, especially affordable ones.
Affordable housing projects will find quick success if the site is not too far from the city centre, which is home to schools, workplaces, hospitals, commercial centres and more diverse services, he said.
“WorldBridge Homes’ development is going well, but sales may not be as quick as it is a bit far from Phnom Penh and not open to the public,” he said.
Due to the city centre’s high land prices, affordable housing is mainly limited to the low-cost condominium project Arakawa Residence in Sen Sok district’s Teuk Thla village.
WorldBridge has sold 1,088, or 44 per cent of the project’s total 2,457 houses. More than 23 per cent of the buyers are civil servants, the ministry said in a press release on Monday.
Cambodia has five affordable housing projects – two in the capital, two in Kandal province and one in Banteay Meanchey province – comprising 8,331 landed units and 7,256 strata units, it said.
The ministry defines affordable housing units as those priced less than $30,000.
