Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Tuesday broke ground for a new satellite city project on Mekong River shores in Kandal province's Arey Ksat city opposite the capital Phnom Penh.

Located on the eastern shores of the Mekong River overlooking downtown Phnom Penh, the 210-hectare Mekong Quay City project was jointly invested by a local real estate developer, TP Moral Group, and Khun Sea Group.

Speaking at the event, Manet said the project would transform the area of vacant land into a new city with modern commercial buildings, shopping malls, hotels, educational institutions, residential addresses, and cultural and tourism centers, among others.

"The groundbreaking ceremony for this mega-project shows that the real estate sector has begun to recover gradually," he said. "It will contribute to fulfilling our people's aspirations and to boosting the nation's economic growth."

The prime minister said the project would boost the development of the real estate sector, investment, trade, hospitality, culture, and tourism in the long term.

Hong Vanak, director of the international economics department at the International Relations Institute of Cambodia under the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said the real estate market remained quiet in 2024.

"We hope the real estate market will recover gradually from 2025 if the garment, footwear and travel goods sector, tourism, and agriculture as well as foreign direct investment continue their upward trends," he told Xinhua in a recent interview.