Sihanoukville: Lost Opportunity

By Greyscape
7th August 2022

It could have been so different.

Sihanoukville, named for Prince Sihanouk is a city of major strategic importance to Cambodia, its sole deep water port and site of Cambodia’s only oil terminal, has been the site of massive Chinese-sponsored development under the Belt and Road programme*. From an architectural point of view, Sihanoukville has some uniquely Cambodian modernist architecture but the opportunity for developing the city further along those lines has been lost.

Photographer Rob t’Hart took these photographs in 2014. We don’t know the current condition of these buildings or whether they still exist.

*Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road Development Strategy

Photo Credits: Rob t'Hart