South Korean-owned blockchain-based zero-commission ride-hailing service MVL TADA (Cambodia) Co Ltd (TADA) has earmarked an initial capital investment of about $20 million to build an electric auto rickshaw assembly plant in the Kingdom.
Scheduled to be completed by the end of this year or early next year, the plan aims to meet the needs of domestic consumers and regional markets, TADA said.
The project was unveiled at a Monday meeting between Cambodian ambassador to South Korea Long Dimanche and Kay Woo, founder of Singapore-based MVLLABS Pte Ltd (MVL), TADA’s parent company.
Dimanche told The Post on Tuesday that TADA was keenly attentive to Cambodia’s growth over recent years, while its app products and services have thrived in the Kingdom.
With the success witnessed in the market, he said: “The company is working on innovation in the service sector, namely, the upcoming construction of its self-propelled electric auto rickshaw assembly plant in Cambodia.”
Dimanche said he is very pleased that Cambodia’s economic attractiveness is able to reel in the steadily rising stream of investors currently willing to dip their toes into the Kingdom.
TADA general manager Chim Poly told The Post that the new facility comes following the success of the app in the Kingdom.
He said the company’s feasibility study on the construction sites of the plant and an adjacent electrical charging station for the vehicles was nearly complete, which bodes well for a launch at the end of the year.
“The company plans to take the electric auto rickshaw assembly plant online by the end of this year or early next year at the latest, with sales set to be launched before the end of the first half of 2021,” Poly said, declining to reveal the location of the project.
He said the plant will not only provide new jobs, but will also help cut costs of electric auto rickshaw and do its part to lower human impacts on the environment.
TADA – which is the infinitive form of the Korean verb ‘ride’ – currently operates in Cambodia, Vietnam and Singapore.
When TADA rolled out in the Kingdom on January 16, last year, MVL said Vietnam and Malaysia would be its next regional ports of call.
Despite launching in Vietnam just five days later, no further plans to launch in Malaysia have been announced. Poly said he was unaware of any plans.
TADA was registered with the Ministry of Commerce on February 8, last year.
