Cambodia's Kep Province is seeking a new investor to build a port worth USD 20 million to link the province with Vietnam's Phu Quoc Island.

The provincial governor of Kep, Has Sareth, said that the project needs to be implemented because its partner, Japan's Rotong Development Group wants to choose another destination for construction.

Rotong Development Group explained that it wants to build the tourism port in the center of Kep to take advantage of a central location and the relatively deep harbour for construction.

However, officials of Kep proposed that the construction should be 5 kilometers far from Kep town. They said they want to build a new port outside of Kep town to ensure the development plan of the province.

Earlier, Ministry of Public Works and Transportation, Secretary of State, Sokhom Pheakvanmony had a visit to inspect proposed sites for the future port. There are three locations which are good for the construction of ports - the Poun Mountain area, Seh Sar area and Muk Damnak area.

Tep Houm, Kep Tourism Department Administration director, said the future Kep tourism port is expected to be a link with the resorts of Vietnam's Phu Quoc Island, with a 90-minute journey by two ferries. Currently, Kep is an attractive destination of Cambodia with an increasing number of tourists.

Statistics by the Kep Tourism Department Administration, in the first six months of 2010, the province greeted 409,638 visitors, including 50,180 foreign tourists. These figures saw sharp increases from the same period last year with 227,019 visitors and 4,895 foreign tourists, respectively.

Source: VNA