By 2004 a conglomerate, Overseas Cambodian Investment Corporation (OCIC), was given permission to develop the island into an international commercial centre.Īfter a protracted, and often controversial, relocation deal with residents was reached in 2005, and initial construction beginning in 2006, the island is still in a frenzy of building activity over a decade later.Ī satellite image showing Koh Pich before and after development began The area was settled after 1979 by fishing families who also grew crops in the rich soil. Deposits of silt built up, creating a 700 metre wide island. Local legend has it that around 50 years ago a ship sank near the mouth of the Tonle Bassac river. From a semi-submerged sandbar rising from where the Bassac, Tonle sap and Mekong rivers converge, to the shining light triumphing Phnom Penh’s rapid development as an international city, Koh Pich, or Diamond Island, had a short, and often troubled history.
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