KHAOU Chuly Group plans to open a factory to supply 30,000 roof tiles a day to the domestic market in six months’ time, its President Khaou Phallaboth said Thursday.

Work on its US$5 million project is slated to begin May 27 on 2 hectares of land in Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district.

“We hope that after the factory is built, it will be able to reduce imports of roof tiles from abroad to some extent,” he said.

The firm targets supplying about 20 percent of the domestic market’s demand for roof tiles once construction wraps up on the factory in six months, and eventually expand to 40 percent market share.

“We hope that our tiles will grasp the market when we launch our operation,” Khaou Phallaboth said, and added that the 30,000 tiles produced per day will be sold at $0.34 each, a price he said was similar to that of imports.

He said domestic construction companies currently use only imported roof tiles, especially from Thailand, because almost no “quality” tiles are produced in Cambodia.

When contacted by the Post, Canadia Bank’s construction project manager, Touch Samnang, confirmed that his company used only imported tiles from Thailand.

“We will consider using locally produced roof tiles if they are of good quality and reasonable price,” he said.