Monopoly game in full swing in Phnom Penh

The tycoon (Kith Meng) and his newly-acquired Monopoly game Park Place Hotel (in fact, the Cambodiana Hotel to be exact).

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Tycoon Kith Meng Is Hotel Cambodiana's New Owner

By Kay Kimsong The Cambodia Daily

Local media tycoon Kith Meng now owns Phnom Penh's Hotel Cambodiana, hotel officials announced on Wednesday. "Oknha Kith Meng is the boss now," hotel managing director Michel Horn said Wednesday. He declined to reveal the price Kith Meng paid two Singaporean investors for their shares in the property. "All management and workers will remain in their positions," he said. Kith Meng declined to comment on the deal. Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema said he would welcome it if Kith Meng tore down the existing hotel and built a more luxurious version. "We welcome the plan to rebuild a new building at the Cambodiana site," Kep Chuktema said. Last week the municipality revealed that the Council of Ministers had requested a study by Ministry of Land Management experts evaluating the hotel for possible demolition. "In fact we wanted more five-star hotels or over-five-star hotels because more tourists are coming to the city," the governor said. Kep Chuktema said that under the Singaporeans' 70-year lease on the hotel, which was originally build by a public company started by then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the investors paid the city $30,000 a month in rent. "I will try hard to negotiate better rental fees," Kep Chuktema said.