Private Investors in Phnom Penh (Cambodia) and the Reconfiguration of the City Center in Relation to the Periphery since the 1990s

• Published in: Annales de géographie 2011-10 (681), p.486-508
• Main Author: Pierdet, Céline
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Geography; Humanities and Social Sciences
• ISSN: 0003-4010; 1777-5884

In the early 1990s, with increased political stability, the rebuilding of infrastructure in Phnom Penh began. It was focused primarily in the central districts, where drainage systems were installed. Intensive land and property speculation between 2005 and 2008 brought in new towns, office blocks, and oversized condominiums, both in the city center and outlying areas. This development followed policy intended to put Phnom Penh on a competitive footing with the big cities of neighboring countries. Small landowners on the outskirts sold their land to private investors. Phom Penh's municipal government also sold portions of its land holdings to investors, who provided public infrastructure in return. These changes were in large part financed by foreign direct investment (FDI)--the assets of Southeast Asian ethnic Chinese--in partnership with Khmer citizens. A reshaping of the city center in relation to the outlying areas then began in earnest--at the expense of the poor, who were forcibly expelled from the central districts. The municipal government, low on assets and having to keep pace with modernization and urbanization, was unable to protect areas on which the poor depended for their livelihoods. The limitations of foreign-capital-driven development were exposed during the 2008 economic slowdown.