The ABB Group, a large multinational energy and infrastructure company, announced Tuesday it was expanding its operations in Cambodia by opening a representative office here.
ABB, with a worldwide revenue of $25 billion, was making Cambodia its 101st country outlet, seeing opportunities to invest in the country’s infrastructure sector, ABB’s country representative Pinn Uk said Tuesday.
The company has investments in power plants in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville already, but wants to capitalize on the country’s stability to move into larger infrastructure investments, Pinn Uk said.
“First, Cambodia now is politically stable,” he said. “Secondly, the infrastructure demand is very big in Cambodia.”
Private investors already operating in Cambodia have named poor infrastructure as one of the main deterrents to investing here.
“We want first to provide the equipment of…power plants, sub-stations and transmission lines,” he said. Other investments would include needs such as water treatment and water supply, followed by agricultural-industrial processing plants like rice mills and cane sugar refineries.
Minister of Industry Suy Sem welcomed ABB’s new office, saying in a statement that the government’s focus “is on the participation of the private sector…. This partner cannot be absent.” The private sector is Cambodia’s “main engine for growth,” he said.
ABB has had its eye on Cambodia since 1993, investing here in just a few projects, Pinn Uk said.
The company has made no large investments from its new office yet, he said, but plans to connect power stations across Takeo and Kampot provinces, bringing power supplies in Vietnam to Phnom Penh, he said.
A statement by Jonny Axelsson, the group’s Thailand representative, said ABB hopes to help rehabilitate Cambodia’s infrasture and, consequently, help the government reduce poverty. (Additional reporting by Brian Calvert)
A statement by Jonny Axelsson, ABB’s Thailand representative, said, “We hope to participate in the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s infrastructure, including the heavy equipment and transportation sectors, and thus contribute to the government’s policy of poverty reduction.” (Additional reporting by Brian Calvert)
“ABB businesses are in areas in Thailand and the Mekong region in areas like energy, transport and agriculture,” Jonny Axelsson, the group’s Thailand representative, said in a statement. “We hope to participate in the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s infrastructure, including the heavy equipment and transportation sectors, and thus contribute to the government’s policy of poverty reduction.”
A statement by Jonny Axelsson, the group’s Thailand representative, said ABB hopes to help rehabilitate Cambodia’s infrasture and, consequently, help the government reduce poverty. (Additional reporting by Brian Calvert)
