In Cambodia, developer announces record-breaking skyscraper project (which will never, ever be built)
Filed under: Cambodia
Topics covered : Bad Politicians
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When I was in Cambodia, a guy explained to me how corruption works in his country. “The man who is building, he tells the bank he needs four trucks of concrete. When four trucks come, he sends one truck to another building that he owns. Then he uses three trucks of concrete to make the building. In a few years, the building falls down.”
That’s why I’m not anxious to get a bird’s eye view of Phnom Penh from this new skyscraper:
Cambodia is aiming for the record books with an ambitious plan to construct Asia’s tallest building, a 555-metre skyscraper worth $200 million (£130 million), Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Wednesday.
The building would be five times taller than the country’s present highest structure, the new, 32-storey Canadia Bank Tower, which dominates the Phnom Penh skyline, where buildings of more than five floors stand out.
If the project goes ahead, it would top the Taipei 101 Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Centre and Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers — the world’s three tallest buildings after the 828-metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
“It will be shorter than the one in Dubai and taller than any buildings in Asia, and I think we can do it,” Hun Sen announced during a university graduation ceremony on Wednesday.
“We don’t have to be too conservative and we also don’t need to be too outdated,” Hun Sen added, brushing off criticism from cultural groups concerned that a construction boom was threatening the city’s French colonial architecture.
Critics say there’s no need for such a large building in the capital, which isn’t exactly part of a Roaring Tiger economy. They needn’t worry — even if they erect the damn thing, it’ll fall down in the first strong wind. I’m sorry, but it’s true. I love Phnom Penh– and I love the Cambodian people — but there’s too much corruption to safely execute such a large project.
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