SPEAKING
FREELY The good and bad of Cambodian
investment By Roderick Brazier
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PHNOM PENH - What's
happening today on Bokor Mountain in Cambodia
speaks volumes about what is good and bad about
new investment in Cambodia in 2007. Bokor Mountain
is just 37 kilometers from the sleepy Cambodian
riverside town of Kampot, yet the journey to the
1,000-meter peak takes more than two and
a
half hours by sport-utility vehicle.
The
steep, winding road was built by French engineers
in the 1920s, and not a centimeter of it has seen
a road-maintenance crew since. Today vehicles
climbing the mountain crawl over an uneven surface
of large, loose stones, deep ruts cut by rushing
rainwater, and mesa-like vestiges of the bitumen
that covered the original road. The result is a
bone-jangling, exhausting journey.
Once
reaching the broad, boggy plateau at Bokor's
summit, the visitor is greeted by one of the
world's strangest sights: a casino, a Catholic
church, and a guesthouse brood in the misty gloom.
Built by the French, all are long-abandoned. Left
to the dank elements, the buildings are coated in
dense, rust-colored moss.
Inside, they are
strewn with debris: glass, broken floor tiles,
lengths of electrical wire. A wall in the ballroom
wears a sinister cluster of bullet holes at chest
height: the Khmer Rouge were particularly active
here. A metal sign resting on the floor warns
tourists not to sleep in the casino.
A
Cambodian business conglomerate called the Sokimex
Group recently announced its intention to repair
the neglected road and renovate the hilltop casino
and hotel at Bokor. A group spokesman assured that
the original French buildings would be renovated,
not demolished, as part of the ambitious and
costly project. In addition to the renovations,
insiders in Phnom Penh talk of cable cars, golf
courses, and helipads.
Sokimex was
established in the early 1980s by Sok Kong, and is
today one of Cambodia's biggest business groups.
Closely associated with the ruling Cambodian
People's Party, Sokimex's mainstay is the
distribution and retail sale of petroleum. Notable
among its many other interests is the lucrative
concession to collect entry fees at the
world-famous Angkor temples.
After decades
of misery and instability, observers are cheered
by the prospect of bold, imaginative investments
that will create many jobs for ordinary Cambodian
people and spur progress. And although Western
tourists get a kick from visiting the unearthly
Bokor ruins, who can blame Cambodians for wanting
to fix up this creepy vestige of war and
colonialism?
The Bokor property sits in
the heart of Preah Monivong National Park, meaning
it belongs to the state, not Sokimex. The casino
project can only start if the government awards
Sokimex a time-bound concession to redevelop and
manage Bokor. In exchange for this privilege,
Sokimex will likely pay the government an annual
fee. As often is the case in Cambodia, these
arrangements are being concluded without
competition, and in secret. The fee will likely be
revealed to the public only after the deal has
been struck, if at all.
Sokimex's
concession to manage the Angkor temples was
awarded in a similarly opaque manner. The
International Monetary Fund has repeatedly urged
the government to tender the lucrative Angkor
concession, but closed-door negotiations remain
the preferred approach. The bad habit is being
repeated in Bokor.
Why does it matter how
such concessions are awarded?
The trouble
is that in the absence of a competitive tender,
the true value of such concessions cannot be
known, and the state could miss out on valuable
revenue. Secret negotiations also create lucrative
rent-seeking opportunities that again deprive the
state coffers of valuable revenue. Soliciting a
range of redevelopment proposals would give
maximum value to the state, and a well-designed
tender could encourage environment- and
heritage-sensitive plans that will not just
attract tourists, but bring employment and
business opportunities to a poor corner of the
country.
The Bokor Mountain project is a
worthy idea, and an experienced group such as
Sokimex may well be the best party to implement
it. But the Cambodian government and society more
broadly could get far more value from it if the
concession were competitively tendered, rather
than negotiated in secret.
Roderick
Brazier is The Asia Foundation's country
representative in Cambodia.
(Copyright
2007 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click hereif you are interested in
contributing.
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