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.
