The Attwood Investment Group unveiled its master plan for the second Special Economic Zone in Cambodia during a launching ceremony in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.
“The free trade zone is seeking every type of factory including garment and textile factories, power plants and factories to produce daily-use products,” said Attwood President Lim Chhiv Ho.
Attwood, which is primarily a food and beverage distributor, will spend $89 million to build a port, water supply, electric supply and other infrastructure in Sihanoukville’s Stung Hav district, she said. The new port will be 9 km from the industrial zone, and construction will begin in October.
Attwood was approved in February to build a $6.9-million road connected to the new zone. “We will transform this mountain and forest area to be a modern economic city,” Lim Chhiv Ho said, adding that at least 10 foreign investment companies are already interested in the site.
While the long-pending draft law on Special Economic Zones has yet to be adopted by the National Assembly, a final draft of a subdecree on the zones is being reviewed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s working group on taxation.
If the subdecree is approved, it will contain a 9-year tax break for the zone developer, and tax-free entry for imports of raw materials for investors in the zone.
During the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said that the tax rule will apply as soon as Attwood finishes building the zone.
Lim Chhiv Ho also said Tuesday that Tep Bopha Prasidh, the wife of Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh, did not own shares in Attwood.
“She has no shares in Attwood,” she said. “People just guess—it is not true,” she added
The July 31, 2003, issue of the Ministry of Commerce bulletin states that a Tep Bopha Prasidh became an Attwood shareholder on July 2, 2003.
A Commerce Ministry letter to Lim Chhiv Ho, also dated July 31, 2003 said Tep Bopha Prasidh’s shares were worth $1 million.
