Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday approved two new special economic zones to be developed by private companies in Phnom Penh and Takeo province, officials said.
The Doung Chhiv Development Company will initially spend $28 million on a zone in Takeo’s Kiri Vong district, while the Attwood import-export company will spend $60 million on a zone in Phnom Penh, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.
He said the zones would be operational by the end of the year. The plans were approved at a meeting of the Council of Ministers’ economic committee.
Special economic zones offer government services on site and raw materials can be imported into the zones tax-free.
“All paperwork would be approved there, they don’t need to come to the relevant ministries,” Khieu Kanharith said. “Some taxes are exempt in the zone, but labor standards are the same.”
He said that Hun Sen praised the two Cambodian firms for investing inside the country rather than sending profits abroad.
Suon Sitthy, deputy secretary-general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, said the Phnom Penh zone will be 353 hectares while the Takeo zone will comprise 57 hectares.
“At the meeting, the two SEZs were approved in principle,” he said, adding that official sub-decrees remain to be signed.
Doung Chhiv, president of the Chinese Association in Cambodia and director general of the Doung Chhiv company, declined to comment on his new zone Wednesday.
Doung Tech, deputy director of the Doung Chhiv subsidiary named the Cooperation for the Development of Phnom Denn, said $70 million will be spent over seven years at the Takeo zone. He said two other unnamed companies own a 30-percent stake in the development.
