The government approved more than $351 million worth of proposed investment projects in August and September, including a $215 million industrial zone for Sihanoukville, according to the Cambodian Investment Board.
The project, by the Taiwanese-Cambodian firm Cambodia International Investment Development Ltd, would create an industrial park in Sihanoukville’s Stung Hao district.
According to Sok Chenda, secretary-general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, the company has proposed putting roads, a water system, and a power supply in the zone, where other companies could reside.
Further details were unavailable. Company officials could not be contacted and the company’s Phnom Penh office appeared closed. Sihanoukville and senior government officials said they were unaware of the plans.
Sok Chenda didn’t know when the actual contract would be signed and said the company was still considering Cambodia’s political situation before committing.
Among other projects approved by the CIB were a proposed $17 million diesel power plant for Kandal province by a Chinese firm, Cambodia Huadian Diesel Power Plant company; two cigarette factories totaling $7.1 million; and 16 garment factories worth $28 million.
China and members of the so-called overseas Chinese “bamboo network” have gradually become some of the largest foreign investors in Cambodia, stepping into a void left by economically strapped Southeast Asian countries.
Of the 33 projects approved, 19 are at least partly Chinese, Taiwanese or Hong Kong ventures.
There are more than 100 Chinese companies in Cambodia in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, a Chinese Embassy official said Wednesday.
Analysts said there are several reasons why Chinese investors are building in Cambodia while other foreign investors are holding back, including good relations between the two nations and Cambodia’s trade privileges with the US and European Union. Turmoil in nearby countries, such as Indonesia, also makes Cambodia attractive, they said.
(Reporting by Debra Boyce, Kay Kimsong and Khuy Sokhoeun)
