Once a rabbit warren of sleezy bars and video game parlours, developers hope the Phnom Penh Pub Street concept will give new shine to a faded star

After years of slow decline, Golden Sorya Mall on Pasteur Street (Street 51) has been given a major overhaul and will re-launch later this month as Phnom Penh's latest 24-hour food and drink venue.

Named "Phnom Penh Pub Street", the open-plan complex boasts 29 outlets – some with two floors – all contained under a single roof, and promises a mix of themes and cuisines, ranging from local fare to Korean and Mexican.

"This is a new concept that is very popular overseas," said Van Porlim, general manager for the family owners who also operate the chic Van's Restaurant in the old Bank Indochina building near riverside.

"It is a tested theme that is very popular in Bangkok," she said. "It will cater to both Cambodians and expats."

Until the renovation, Golden Sorya Mall was a rabbit warren of sleezy bars and video game parlours where down-at-heel party girls and small-time drug dealers vied for the attention of mostly elderly and often decrepit Western male visitors.

It remains home to Pontoon, a popular night spot which often features top visiting DJs, and is opposite Heart of Darkness, the grandfather of Phnom Penh's club scene.

Over the years, however, the area missed out on the development enjoyed elsewhere in the capital and went to seed. Addicts and drunkards could regularly be seen in the morning slumped on the pavements, sleeping off their respective poisons even as youngsters were being dropped off to attend one of the many schools in the area.

Tuk-tuk drivers were more likely to offer you an illicit substance than a ride somewhere, while drunken brawls were commonplace. If a troubled foreigner went missing in Cambodia, Golden Sorya Mall was usually the first place to check.

If the development succeeds, however, it could breathe new life into an area which has already caught the attention of adventurous developers.

The recently opened Purple Inn, a striking needle of a building opposite Pub Street, is already doing brisk business, while around the corner All Sports, a 24-hour dedicated sports bar, is well established in just a year of operation.

Just 300 metres away, the glitzy new Sorya Centre Point opened to great fanfare in February, boasting several international brand stores and a multiplex cinema.

One local shop owner who asked not to be named said he was delighted with the new Pub Street concept.

"I hope it will also bring some business to my store," he said, "and if they can drive away the drug users from the area it will definitely attract more people."

There are some slots still available in the complex, with rents ranging from $900 to $2,500 a month.

"It is quite interesting," said one prospect, who identified himself only as Mr Chi when Post Property caught up with him viewing. "I am looking for a place to open a Korean restaurant."

Property consultant Paul Ellender said he had no doubt the concept would be good for the area.

"I believe the development at Golden Sorya Mall will likely have a positive effect on surrounding businesses and apartments as there will be more people in the area 24/7,"he said.

"With more people around, this will make the area safer, more diverse and more attractive in the longer term."

And could the launch impact land prices and rents – particularly of residences?

"This has been a publicly known project for some time so I think most of the impact has already taken effect," said Ellender.

"Rents are now being squeezed more by the large condos around Phnom Penh than by a single development," he added.

Although the official launch is only on May 30, a couple of bars have already opened and appear to be doing good business.

"The location is very good," said Sok Tida, manager of one. read more →

AS A youngster growing up in a remote part of Prey Veng province, Sorn Seap and his family lived off the land, eking out an existence by growing rice.

Big things were expected of him as the eldest child, and he sometimes dreamed of becoming a teacher, or even a doctor. While he loved nature and the outdoors, he also dreamed of an easier life – although he knew he'd have to work hard to achieve it.

Thirty years later, Seap is still inextricably linked to the land – not as a farmer, but as the founding director of Key Real Estate, one of the biggest property companies in the Kingdom.

"It may sound a bit funny because I didn't even know what real estate was for the first two decades of my life," Seap says. "When I was young and inexperienced, I only wanted a good, comfortable life."

It was a high school sweetheart that got Seap more focused on his future. While romance in school is commonly viewed as a huge distraction to education by Cambodian parents, Seap's relationship encouraged him to dream big.

"Whoever I am and what I have today is the fruit of my hard work and active learning, but everything began when I started dating a girl who would become my wife in high school," he said.

"I wanted to have a family and I wanted to give them a great life so I started to write my plans in a notebook and strictly followed them. "I committed to work hard in my studies, become multilingual, work to earn lots of money, take my family to visit other countries and, most importantly, have a place to call home."

After finishing high school Seap signed up for an undergraduate program at the National University of Management (NUM), where his interest in real estate first blossomed.

"I did an assignment about a real estate company in the US, which evolved from a startup with a few hundred dollars of capital to a corporation with assets worth millions," he said. "It was how I discovered businesses around the world revolve around real estate, that about two-thirds of a country's total wealth lies with its land and property.

"Beginning with this one simple assignment, I committed to become fully involved in the sector and one day to have my own real estate company."

Seap realised that, in order to make his dream come true, he needed to build his skills and abilities outside the classroom.

He volunteered as a teacher for a local humanitarian NGO for two years just to practise his public speaking, and after his graduation in 2005 took a job paying just $120 a month at a real estate startup founded by a French-Cambodian.

"I told myself not to care about money at that time," Seap said. "If I had, no dream would have been possible."

Although the business folded after six months, Seap learnt much from the experience. He spent the next decade in a variety of real estate jobs – as a manager of an apartment building, a salesman and, finally, helping Knight Frank establish its business in Cambodia.

In 2010, he fulfilled his dream by starting his own company – Key Real Estate. Things got off to a rocky start, however.

When it first started, Key Real Estate had three staff – including the founder – working from a a one-room office and struggling to find clients.

In the first six months Seap lost his savings and money he had borrowed from his parents, but was able to find partners who believed in a business plan that had been seven years in the making.

After a year, the company turned a profit, and eight years later the company has 45 employees and three buildings in the capital – as well as offices in Sihanoukville and Battambang.

Key Real Estate provides the usual property management, project sales and marketing services, but the area it specialises in is valuation.

"Property valuation is a requirement when the banks or other financial institutions have to decide whether they should accept a property as collateral, and it is also needed for many other purposes such as investment," Seap said.

"It has to be done very carefully through comparison, investment, cost and profit procedures, each of which is important in its own way."

Seap said the key of his company's success is the prioritising human capital to ensure the accuracy of the information and data collected.

"I and others in the management team train our young employees very hard and encourage our employees to learn and share their ideas," Seap said.

"It sounds very simple but we want them to be better than us. Only well-trained employees can collect reliable and credible data and information and use them to analyse the value of properties.

"I want investors in the country to call us whenever they want to know how much land or property is worth." read more →

PAY a visit to landscape specialists Sokea Garden in Sen Sok district, and you'd be forgiven for thinking you've entered a different world.

The 2,000-square-metre parcel of land is a veritable tropical paradise, bursting with trees, bushes, flowers and ferns – a cool green oasis of calm and tranquility.

On a path from the road to a small office building deep inside the compound, Lao Mekeang, the 39-year-old CEO and founder of Sokea Garden, is carefully examining a rocky fish pond following a sudden thunderstorm, concerned the downpour may have caused damage. He is accompanied by his wife, Hok Sokea, who the company is named after.

"Water gives life, but too much water can also ruin the plants," says Namkeang. "And these plants are very important because they are the heart of my business."

As a teenager growing up in Koh Sotin district of Kampong Cham province, Namkeang wanted to be an artist – specifically a sculptor – and attended training courses organised by the French Institute of Cambodia.

A sculpture made of bamboo and coconut shells at an exhibition called Ponleu, earned him a scholarship to art school in France, but Namkeang chose instead to follow in his father's footsteps and studied business administration at Norton University.

When the family business fell on hard times 1998, Namkeang was forced to drop out, but won a scholarship to study interior design at the Royal University of Fine Arts.

"I never planned on studying it, and I was so nervous when I took my first step into the class," Namkeang says. "However, after a while I found that my artistic talent and skill helped me a lot. The close relationship between art, which I love, and design meant I really enjoyed studying.

To help the family finances, a sophomore started doing freelance work – mostly designing stages for concerts.

But just a few months after graduating in 2000, Namkeang received a huge break when he was commissioned to design the Kirirom Hillside Resort.

It was a quirky endeavour.

Although he designed the houses and bungalows, his favourite part of the project was landscaping the ground, planting thousands of exotic plants and installing many sculptures – including a 17-metre statue of a Brachiosaurus.

"Before, I had only worked on indoor designs and had never realized that landscapes, especially the gardens, could be such a feature. Hardscaping [installations], meanwhile, involved creating artwork, which I love very much."

Eight years later, shortly after his marriage, Namkeang changed tack and focused entirely on landscape design.

The newlyweds brought together a group of young Cambodian designers and in 2013 registered as a limited liability company.

"There were so many reasons I turned our small group into a company, but the main one was the increasing enthusiasm among business owners and investors for landscapes," Namkeang says.

"Meanwhile working indoors stressed me. As an outdoor person I needed to turn back to working with nature – which at the same time allows me to use my artistic skills and talents."

Sokea Garden provides a number of landscaping services including design and construction, civil work, water features, and "hardscaping", as well as maintenance of indoor and outdopor gardens.

In five years the company has grown at great pace, accepting projects from a number of major investors and companies.

Some examples are the garden at Cambodia Beverage Company's plant – which incorporates a pond in the shape of a Coca-Cola bottle – as well as the first and second branches of Aeon Mall and the side road garden at Phnom Penh City Center.

His toughest project to date was designing the garden at Veal Preah Men, the funerary complex for the late King Norodom Sihanouk, which he had to complete in a month.

"I couldn't believe we'd been chosen for such a prestigious project," Namkeang said, "but we now have a large portfolio of original and classical designs for many satisfied customers, big and small."

According to Namkeang, the key to his company's success is concentrating on creating landscapes that fit with the property's identity.

"What I mean by identity is what we want the structure to be," he says. "It depends on whether the property is place where people work or relax, whether it is modern or classical, Western or Asian – but one thing is clear: All these elements must blend with nature.

Another important factor is to precisely understand the client's desires and budget.

"One thing we always strive for is to make dream of the client come true without compromising the quality of our work," he says.

"We always keep our eye on marginal differences in cost, for example, between buying artificial grass or real stuff."

Namkeang starts on his designs by painting the landscape on canvas and draws inspiration from travel – both in Cambodia and abroad.

Like many local companies today, Sokea Garden is facing intense competition from the foreign companies, especially in term of design quality and pricing.

"Our mission is to make customers think about us first when they are thinking about beautifying their structures," he says.

"But my ultimate dream is to have a resort that I design myself, which I can enjoy after my retirement when my children and younger employees can take over my business." read more →

From something of a backwater less than a decade ago Chbar Ampov has become a residential area with a focus on leisure

JUST across the Bassac River, but not far from the city centre, Chbar Ampov district is fast becoming one of the most popular residential areas in the capital as Phnom Penh's urban sprawl continues.

Despite the need to further develop services and infrastructure, the area is nevertheless attracting developers and private builders keen to take advantage of the relatively cheap land rates and abundant greenery.

"It is an area with great natural advantage including the Bassac and Mekong rivers and many trees," said Kim Heang, president of the Cambodian Valuers and Estate Agents Association (CVEA). "The natural surroundings are healthy and make people want to live there."

Located along National Road 1, Chbar Ampov is sub-divided into eight "sangkats" – Prek Pra, Chbar Ampov 1, Chbar Ampov 2, Nirouth, Kbal Koh, Prek Eng, Prek Thmei and Veal Sbov – and now home to some 140,000 people.

A decade ago the area was very much considered a rural district – albeit neighboring the capital – but interest picked up after the launch of the first borey projects.

Since then several other developers have already started or announced plans to build in the area – not least Oxley-Worldbridge, who last week unveiled their design for the luxury The Palm project, complete with a marina, canals and an artificial beach.

"A lot of residential borey projects in Chbar Ampov such as Borey Heng Meanchey, Borey Sambath Meanheng and Borey Hi-Tech Luxury have been very successful," said Yim Socheat, CEO of CDN Property. "In general, the area sees more residential than commercial projects."

One recent home buyer is Tob Sreymeng, an accountant, who recently moved into a house in Borey Penh Huoth, Sangkat Nirouth.

"My husband and I decided on that location because it has lots of fresh air from the two rivers, making my family feel comfortable," she said. "Also, Chbar Ampov does not have many industries or factories causing pollution."

A lack of infrastructure has kept industries from moving in, but planned improvements should help the area become a fully-fledged multipurpose district.

"In terms of development, we have a clear plan to repair the roads in the district and implement infrastructure projects," said Huot Huy, Director of Chbar Ampov district's administration.

"The district has implemented a three-year development program that costs about 5 billion riel [$1.2 million] per year from City Hall. The money will be spent on programs that cover issues such as roads, building restoration and rehabilitation and new sewage lines"

Met Meas Pheakdey, the City Hall spokesman, said the plan would focus on the development of bridges, roads and sewage systems to fully integrate the area into greater Phnom Penh.

"City Hall plans to build a sky bridge at the intersection near Monivong Boulevard. This should further promote the city's infrastructure development and boost economic activity," he said.

Although Chbar Ampov is attracting more residential projects, stakeholders say land prices in the area have not risen as remarkably as elsewhere in the city.

Residential land prices range from $100 to $300 per square metre while commercial land along the National Road 1 from Borey Peng Huoth to Chbar Ampov Bridge is going from $1,500 to $2,500, according to CDN Property's Socheat.

"The price is under $1,500 per square metre the further the property is from the main road," he added.

"Prices are not rising as much compared to other districts since there are not many big international brands or international schools. Also, there are not many big roads except for National Road 1, therefore it will be a while before land prices rise."

District Administrator Director Huy explained further: "Property in Sangkat Chbar Ampov 1 and Chbar Ampov 2 is relatively higher based on the annual property tax charged by the two sangkats. Chbar Ampov 1 and Chbar Ampov 2 are more expensive than other Sangkats since they closer to the city." read more →

Realtors consider average-priced condos as those costing from $30,000 to $50,000 per unit.

While the market for luxury condominiums aimed at the wealthy is nearing saturation point, developers are eyeing the burgeoning local middle class as the next big thing in property sales, according to realtors.

"I think developers that focus on average-income customers can be successful as local people are now able to afford them," Ann Sothida, director of realtors CBRE Cambodia, told Post Property.​ "There is definitely a trend developing."

The middle class in Cambodia is loosely defined as a household earning from $500 to $2,000 a month. In the past, families attaining this status would likely think about buying land or property near their ancestral homes, but now even first-time buyers are considering moving into so-called average-priced condominiums.

Realtors consider average-priced condos as those costing from $30,000 to $50,000 per unit.

Sothida said this year alone has seen three such condo projects come online, with a total of 2,000 units.

Developers are aiming their product at buyers like Narith, who recently bought a unit in a condo in Boeung Trobek commune as a second home.

"I think more Cambodians are choosing to live in condos because some of my friends have also bought into the lifestyle," he said. "Living in a condo will definitely be different from living on the ground floor. It will be a new experience."

Kim Heang, president of the Cambodian Valuers and Estate Agents Association, said condos aimed at the middle class were a bargain compared to landed property – particularly in the Chamkarmon and Daun Penh districts.

"If condos in these areas are built from 15 to 25 floors and priced from $800 to $1,200 per square metre, they will be successful," he said. "For that price you would only get perhaps one floor of a landed house, which is likely to be old and lack modern infrastructure.

"Any developer looking at that model will get many local customers since condos have better services than older flats."

Developer L Residency Cambodia, currently involved in five average-priced condominium projects with units priced from $29,000 to $50,000 per unit, said it had definitely seen growing interest from locals – even though it was mostly foreigners snapping up the relative bargains.

"Condo units prices from $900 to $1,200 per square metre are on the right course with the right target audience and I am not concerned about being able to sell them," said official Tuy Bun.

"The reason we are building so many units like this is because there are more customers."

Still, he said, investors from China remain a lucrative market. "They purchase 100 units or more at one time as a long term investment" he said. read more →

The demand for co-working space in Cambodia is on the rise as young entrepreneurs, startups and designers seek economy and flexibility while they find their feet in the market

Despite the glut of office property in Phnom Penh, co-working enterprises are flourishing, thanks to demand by local entrepreneurs, start-ups and visiting businessmen seeking accommodation and services they can't provide themselves.

Coworker.com, the office-sharing equivalent of Airbnb, lists 13 companies in Cambodia currently offering co-working facilities – although real figure is certainly more and set to grow in line with the boom in small business openings.

A relatively new concept here, co-working has quickly gained a foothold. Facilities range from trendy open-plan offices favoured by hipster entrepreneurs, freelancers and designers, to more private boardroom-like premises used by visiting businessmen seeking an office away from home.

"The demand for co-working space has been rising over the past few years, particularly for startups and individual entrepreneurs who need a good working environment at an affordable price," said Chea Mara, General Manager of Emerald Hub, which has two locations in Phnom Penh.

"They stand a better chance to build networks with other firms, as well as enjoy communal meetings and seminars that will help boost their knowledge and experiences."

Most co-working spaces in Cambodia offer similar services, but also try pitch themselves at a specific market, offering specialties in that area.

Impact Hub Phnom Penh, for example, is part of a global network that bills itself as "a business incubator, a social enterprise builder and above all, a community of like-minded people who believe they can make the world a better place".

The Desk, another co-working space in the capital, targets small business people – particularly in the tech sector – providing "the resources and solutions for today's entrepreneurs by offering affordable workplace, networking, educational and personal growth workshops".

With co-working space, you get what you pay for.

Emerald Hub, which entered the market in 2016 and is planning a third premises within the year, currently serves 32 tenants, from individuals to teams paying from $60 a month to over $500.

Services at their BKK3 office, for example, start at $60 per month for a "hot desk" – you grab what is available in an open plan office – to $300 for a room of your own that could accommodate up to four people.

Pok Sina and her team of three have been renting a space in Emerald Hub for a year after starting a small e-commerce company known as Fado168 which orders and ships goods from Amazon in the US to sell in Cambodia.

"We decided to rent a space here because it is in a good location and the price is affordable," she said. "We just pay monthly rent [$300] but get free, fast internet service and other utilities, which is different from renting office space in a commercial centre with higher price.

"Moreover, we have a chance to get more knowledge by attending seminars here every week."

Earlier this year, Toong, a leading Vietnam startup in co-working space, announced its first foray into Cambodia, with a facility near Vattanac Capital Tower.

Expected to open during the fourth quarter this year, the Phnom Penh office will consist of 700 square metres and will be their ninth such facility in the Indochina region.

"The modern co-working space increasingly attracts a young and dynamic generation by providing a comfortable, economical workplace as well as a creative working culture for clients," Duong Do, Founder and CEO of Toong , told the Nikkei Asian Review recently.

Ann Sothida, country manager of realtors CBRE Cambodia, said her company had yet to fully analyse the co-working market, but the entry of players such Toong showed great potential existed.

Echoing her view, Hoem Seiha, Director of Research at Vtrust Appraisal, said the segment would definitely see more growth given the rise in the number of young Cambodian entrepreneurs and professionals such as designers starting their own small business.

"The co-working concept has already proved popular in Thailand and Vietnam, and so it will be Cambodia in the near future." read more →

The government says wages for unskilled construction workers are rising in line with the building boom, but ask any labourer and you'll hear otherwise

WAGES for low-level workers in construction are not keeping pace with the building boom despite official government statistics suggesting they are ahead of inflation, industry representatives say.

While workers can boost their earnings by specialising in specific areas, general labourers doing so called muscle jobs are struggling to make ends meet – particularly those who have left the countryside to seek a living in the capital.

Sok Kin, President of the Building and Woodworkers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia (BWTUC), said wages were definitely not keeping pace with demand and were lower than government statistics.

The union estimates that manual laborers earned between 16,000 to 40,000 riels (between $4 and $10) a day, with an average of 30,000 riels.

"This is low compared to $10 – $12.5 wage per day in Thailand," he said. "Moreover, Cambodian construction workers do not have insurance or other benefits."

The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, says the average wage for unskilled construction workers in 2017 was between 35,000 to 40,000 riels per day. Semiskilled labourers and supervisors averaged from 50,000 to 75,0000 riels while those with accredited qualifications moved out of the daily-rate category and could expect upwards of $400 a month. An informal survey of labourers suggests otherwise.

"When I first started construction work in 2015, I received 18,000 riels a day carrying tiles and mixing concrete,"said Kim Hong, a 24-year-old from Svay Rieng province. "My first job was really tiring because I needed to work under the sun for long hours every day."

Despite having now specialised as a tile aranger, Hong still makes just 45,000 riels doing literally back-breaking work for eight hours a day on a borey construction site in Khan Por Sen Chey.

"A construction worker requires great endurance and physical force and is prone to danger, but the wage isn't equivalent to the work required," he said.

Even on $340 per month – against a national minimum wage of $160 – he is unable to save enough money to support his hometown family.

"Food takes a lot out of the salary, not to mention medicines, household costs and various other costs. "I only received a raise because I specialised in tile arranging. If I didn't have a specific skill, I don't think my wages would exceed 25,000 riels."

A spokesperson for the ministry was not available for comment, but construction firms in the capital confirmed the discrepencies.

"Right now, workers who do muscle jobs get between 25,000 to 30,000 riels a day and labourers with expertise from 40,000 to 80,000,"said Phou Sambath, assistant director of developers Phnom Penh Thmey, which operates three construction sites in the capital employing over 500 workers – 95 percent of them Cambodian.

Most workers on his sites earned at the top end, he said, because the company preferred hiring people with specific skills in order to prioritise quality. "Salaries change according to the field of work and experience,"he said.

There can be some envy in the much higher salaries that foreign workers – mostly from China, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia – are seen to recieve, but like Phnom Penh Thmey, some companies are changing their payment plans.

"Any foreign team or experts the company hires do not receive daily or monthly wages, rather they are paid for the aspect that they are handling, such as specific landscaping, wood or marble work," he said.

Olympia City contractor OCIC said its unskilled workers earned in the region of 20,000 a day – well below what the ministry claims – while semiskilled labourers twice that.

"The wages have increased a bit compared to last year," said Meng Chamreoun, OCIC project manager, who overseas 2,000 workers, mostly Cambodian.

"The sites at Olympia City also have Chinese experts involved in the process, but they only work in certain parts of the project," he said, adding some of them earned upwards of $7,000 a month.

According to Chamreoun, the site he's managing doesn't have a problem filling casual positions – apart from during the harvesting season.

Figures from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction say the construction sector in Cambodia provided employment in 2017 for around 260,000 Cambodians a day, compared to around 185,000 a year earlier. Phnom Penh accounted for between 125,000 to 160,000 jobs per day in 2017.

Casual labourers in Sihanoukville appear to be faring a little better than their counterparts in the capital, fuelled in part by a China-led construction boom.

"Since most projects in the province are financed and developed by the Chinese, high-skilled jobs are usually given to their nationals," said Non Thim, a construction analyst in Sihanoukville.

"More investment in real estate such as residences, condos, hotels and casinos in the province has led to an increase in employment, but most Cambodians are employed in low-skilled jobs with an average salary of around 35,000 riels per day.​ read more →

DHAKA (The Daily Star/ANN)

Dhaka is set to welcome half a dozen international hotel chains over the next couple of years, brought about by the growing influx of business travellers to Bangladesh.

"The economy is expanding and so is the number of guests," said Md Jashim Uddin, vice-chairman of Bengal Group of Industries, which is constructing a 370-room hotel in the capital's Niketan area for about BDT 600 crore.

The property will be managed by Swiss hotel chain Swissôtel Hotels and Resorts. "We want to make the ultimate business hotel, which we do not have in the city yet," he added.

Bengal is not the only local business group pouring in funds to expand the capital's luxury hotel landscape; Jamuna, Marium and Premier are entering the fray too.

New business opportunities have come up for construction of large infrastructure projects such as the Padma bridge, Rooppur nuclear power plant, metro rail and LNG terminals.

At the same time, the flow of business travellers related to the export-oriented garment industry is set to get bigger as the apparel makers chase an export target of $50 billion in 2021.

Altogether, the new hotels are expected to bring forth investment of about BDT 5,400 crore, according to industry insiders and a banker.

Marium Group is establishing a 200-room hotel in Hatirjheel area for about BDT 1,500 crore. The property will be christened the Holiday Inn Dhaka City Centre and is expected to open its doors to guests by the end of this year.

"There is a huge demand for luxury hotels. In fact, it is more than the supply in the city," said Alam Ahmed, managing director of Holiday Inn.

Jamuna Group has struck a deal with Marriott International, the American luxury hospitality chain, to set up the 700-room JW Marriott Dhaka. The hotel will be located at Jamuna Future Park in Progoti Sarani. Premier Group is building JW Marriott's sister brand Courtyard by Marriot in the capital's Gulshan area. Unique Group, the parent company of Westin Dhaka, is establishing Sheraton Dhaka in Banani, while Lakeshore Hotels has teamed up with Thai hospitality group Dusit International to set up a business hotel in Uttara for BDT 150 crore.

Once all the under-construction properties become operational, the total supply of upscale hotel rooms in Dhaka will more than double to 3,000 from existing 1,250, according to industry operators.

The new entrants will also drive up competition, and possibly lower the room tariffs, said MA Awal, director of sales and marketing of Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka.

He went on to state that the supply is growing faster than the demand. Al-Amin, director of sales and marketing of The Westin Dhaka, differs in opinion.

"The room rates in upscale hotels in Dhaka are high, which reflects the solid demand," he added.

Shahidus Sadeque, director of marketing and business promotion of InterContinental Dhaka, which is expected to resume welcoming visitors later this year, has a similar position. The economy grew steadily in the last five-six years, but the number of international hotels has not increased to that extent, he said.

"Our market is under-supplied. We have only half a dozen of international hotel brands whereas Kolkata has more than a dozen of such hotels," he added.

At present, five international hotel chains are serving in Dhaka: Marriott International's brands Westin and Le Meridien, Radisson, Pan Pacific and Amari.

About 3.1 million visited Bangladesh in the last six years and the average occupancy rate in the upscale hotels in Dhaka is 60-70 percent, according to Syed Mehran Hussain, manager marketing of Four Points by Sheraton, which began operations last year. "And the number is increasing day by day. With the rise of visitors, the number of star-hotels is also increasing." read more →