A US$115 million joint investment between Cambodia’s agriculture giant Mong Reththy Group and Paris-based sugar trader Sucres Et Denrees is a step closer to finalisation, after lengthy sugarcane testing gave positive results.

Mong Reththy said that his company and SUCDEN were planning to invest $115 million in a 10,000-hectare sugar plantation and factory in Stung Treng province’s Siem Pang district – depending on the outcome of the feasibility studies.

He said the result of the tests, conducted on the sugar cane plants for nearly two years on 30 hectares, showed the sugar levels met the necessary standard for producing sugar.

“We are able to invest in producing sugar for export now because the result of the test is very positive”, he said Tuesday.

However, he added that although the tests showed that sugar could be produced, the investment was still awaiting a transportation costs study.

The planting area is about 550 kilometeres away from Phnom Penh, where the sugar produced would need to go for export. If the plan goes ahead, Mong Reththy said a sugar factory would be built by 2014 and would employ up to 10,000 people.

Eang Sophalleth, personal advisor to the Prime Minister, said France’s ambassador in Phnom Penh, François Desmazières, had asked Hun Sen to support the investment in a meeting on Monday.