Dairy manufacturing giant Nestle Ltd has the green light to open a $6.6 million milk manufacturing operation in Phnom Penh, according to the Cambodian Investment Board.
The joint venture, which was approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia last month, gives the Swiss-based company an 80 percent share of the deal. Cambodia’s Apsara Milk manufacturer has a 20 percent stake.
According to a CIB report, the plant will employ 162 people. A spokesman for the CIB said the operation will be set up at the old Apsara Dairy on Route 5.
The CIB spokesman said no date has been set on when operations may begin. He added that discussions are still taking place between Nestle and Apsara, which has manufactured Lotus brand sweetened condensed milk since 1989, when the company was privatized by the government.
Lay Meng Sun, managing director of Phoenix Co Ltd, which operates Apsara Milk, declined Friday to comment on the deal.
The Nestle Dairy project was one of 29 investment applications approved by the CDC in January and February, altogether worth more than $74 million.
Other investment projects include an application from China-based Cambodia Haining Group for a $38 million plantation that will produce palm oil, cassava and sugar cane. The CDC has approved applications for 19 garment factories.
Also in February, the CDC approved the application for Malaysia’s SungeiWay Group to build a residential, commercial and industrial development called Sunway City on Chroy Changvar. Project manager PW Chin said Friday that construction was not expected to begin until next year.
The 400-hectare development zone is estimated to take about 10 years to complete at a cost of $1 billion. Residents of the peninsula, at the confluence of the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers, have in the past protested their possible eviction from the land.
SungeiWay also owns the Sunway Hotel, which is expected to open before the end of March.
