T HE Cambodia Investment Board during the first five months of 1995 approved 30

new private investment projects for Cambodia in a variety of industries from

cement manufacturing to silk to ice cream.

The projects are worth a total

of $374 million, although most of the projects involve capital investments of

less than $1 million to $2 million each. They would eventually create 8,525

jobs.

The largest projects are two hotels, and a $148 million cement

plant to be built by a Cambodian company called C.B. International.

One

of the hotels is the Regency Company's 420 room, 466 million hotel being built

by a Cambodian, French, Thai, British joint venture. The other hotel is

described as a $60 million resort to be built by Kogino Resort Co. Ltd. of

Cambodia.

It is the second time the CIB has released its lists of new

investment projects for Cambodia since the passage of the Investment Act last

summer. The board managed to cut the average time it spends from application to

approval from 40 days last year to 29 during the January to May

period.

Several of the projects approved are in the food processing

industries. The largest of these is an ice cream and juice plant by Sentosa

International Ice Cream Co., of Malaysia. The investment is pegged at $7.1

million.

Other food processing projects include Niesen Good and Drink

Co., of Hong Kong, which is involved in food and soft drinks; Evershine Food

Industries, a joint venture between Cambodian and Singaporean investors to

produce snack food. That investment is valued at $1.6 million. Also, Suwat

Peanich Co., a Cambodian-Thai joint venture, is making a $430,000 investment in

snack foods.

Other industries dominating the investment list are building

materials and garment industries. The planned investments include two brick

plants, a particle board plant, and an asphalt plant. There are several small

textile operations , mostly joint ventures between Cambodia and other

countries.

One of the largest of the textile industry operations is a

Cambodian-Chinese joint venture called Da Wolf Silk Co., which plans to grow

silk cocoons in Cambodia and export the cocoons to China for finishing. That

investment is pegged at $2 million and is expected to create 95 jobs at the

outset.

In contrast to last year, when several cigarette companies

applied for investment approvals, there is only one cigarette company on the

list, a company called Hong International Co., a Cambodian Australian joint

venture, which is making a $100,000 investment.

The list also includes a

$20 million rice project owned by Cambodians and Singaporeans.

Nathalie

Saphon Ridel, spokeswoman for the CIB, said the average approval time for the

projects is 29 days. One project, an Australian garment company called Cambodia

H.K. Garment, was approved in just eight days.

She said that although

the CIB has approved the projects in principal, after reviewing the companies'

feasibility studies, the projects are still subject to contract negotiations and

environmental approvals from the Ministry of Environment. She said the companies

have one year to get started on their investments. If nothing materializes,

their approvals will be revoked. The approvals entitle the companies to get a

variety of tax incentives for setting up a business in Cambodia.

In

addition to the manufacturing operations, the CIB approved eight service

companies. They include three foreign law firms, the Singapore petroleum

company, Caltex Services, an engineering partnership between Cambodia and

Australia called Stanhill Engineering Bosch Co., a French-Cambodian medical

services company called SOS International Medical Center, and a Cambodian-Thai

radio station, KCS Cambodia.