Chinese firm floats $3bn investment

A Chinese firm has told Hun Sen it wants to invest US$3 billion in Cambodia, partly in aluminium processing. Bloomberg

via CAAI

Wednesday, 08 September 2010 20:58 Cheang Sokha

A CHINESE company says it plans to invest US$3 billion in the Cambodian power, property and metal-processing sectors.

The chairman of China’s Inner Mongolia Erdos (Houng Jun Investment Co) met with Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday to discuss the proposals, the premiere’s personal assistant Eang Sophalleth said.

He said the firm’s chairman, Lin Xiang Wang, informed Hun Sen about his company’s wish to build a coal power plant in Preah Sihanouk province capable of generating 700 megawatts of energy, along with investments in property development and aluminum processing for local markets and export.

“The company is in the process of detail discussions, in particular on the establishment of power station in Preah Sihanouk province,” Eang Sophalleth said.

“The power station and the property development would start at the same time.”

Sophalleth quoted Lin Xiang Wang as saying the company had capital of $7 billion, was one of the top 500 companies in China, and aimed to make a $3 billion investment step-by-step.

According to Reuters, Shanghai-listed Inner Mongolia Eerduosi Cashmere Products is headed by Lin Xiang Wang and is principally engaged in coal, electricity and metallurgy business, as well as the manufacture and distribution of cashmere apparel.

The firm traded at a 52-week high on the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday, according to Bloomberg, at 16.24 yen a share.

According to Sophalleth, owner of Cambodian giant Pheapimex, Choeung Sopheap, also attended the meeting. He declined to comment whether the Pheapimex and the Chinese firm would have a joint venture on the projects.

Pheapimex representatives in Phnom Penh did not immediately respond to a request for further comment

yesterday.

Hun Sen expressed support for the projects but advised the company to consult with Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem about its energy and aluminium-processing plans, his spokesman said.

Sok Chenda, secretary general at the Council for the Development of Cambodia, a government institution that approves investment projects, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

In February this year, building work began on a 100-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Sihanoukville, following a 2006 application to invest $200 million in the project. Malaysian firm Leader Universal Holding’s is the major investor in the plant.

But local environmentalists warned that the government should be very careful in its development of coal power plants and their environmental impact. ADDITIONAL REPORTING ELLI E DYER