[PHNOM PENH POST]
The first garment factory in Koh Kong province is slated to open in April of next year, in what insiders say is a harbinger of manufacturing along the Thai border.
Thai-owned KKN Apparel had signed a contract with the Koh Kong Special Economic Zone to launch garment manufacturing in the Kingdom’s west, Ly Yong Phat, the economic zone’s developer, said yesterday.
The factory would employ more than 2,000 workers, Ly Yong Phat said.
The factory will be the first in the province, among several assembly plants that currently operate in the special economic zone.
As ASEAN member countries worked towards integrated trade policies, however, areas bordering Cambodia’s wealthier neighbours would attract increasing amounts of manufacturing investment, Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia president Van Sou Ieng said yesterday.
“Thai [investors] will put lots of factories near the Thai border. The Vietnamese will put factories on their borders too. And it will not only be garments, but other kinds of manufacturing,” Van Sou Ieng said.
Ly Yong Phat claimed several manufacturing companies were discussing investment in the province, including a Japanese company that manufactures cables, electronics and car parts. He declined to name the company, however.
The factory would create jobs in the region, Van Sou Ieng said, adding that a chain of housing and food providers should grow around those employed at the factory.
“Activity will grow overall in the area because of this factory,” he said.
Logistics costs to and from Koh Kong were considerably lower than other areas of the country, Jo Young-dae, director of operations at the Camko Motor Company, which operates out of the Koh Kong Special Economic Zone, said.
The cost of importing via Thailand from Korea was nearly half that of shipping through Sihanoukville Port, he said.
Camko Motor does assembly of Hyundai vehicle parts.
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