A Chinese-owned depot for furniture and construction materials officially open yesterday in Kandal province, 20 kilometres from downtown Phnom Penh.
The depot is a venture of Chengdu Bayi Furniture Group, a furniture manufacturer headquartered in Sichuan, in Western China.
Chengdu Bayi Sino-Cambodia Trade Mall, located along National Road 4, sits on a plot of 54 hectares, which also includes a logistics centre, market, entertainment centre, as well as apartment buildings and villas. 70 companies are now leasing property in the lot, most of them Chinese, according to a company representative.
The depot will focus on wholesale, said He Dai Qiang, executive vice president of Chengdu Bayi Furniture Group, during the launch yesterday.
“We will make the depot the biggest market for furniture, steel and construction materials in Cambodia in the next two to three years,” Mr Qiang said.
“Cambodia is a great place to invest now. It has peace, great economic growth and political stability, as well as a cordial relations with the Chinese government. That is why we decided to invest here,” he added.
Mr Qiang, however, failed to disclose the amount invested in the project.
Zhang Ying, deputy director of the Business Hall in Sichuan province, said trade between Cambodia and Sichuan was worth $110 million last year. She pointed out that the main products sent to Cambodia from the western Chinese province are electronics, spare parts, sound systems, raw material for the textile industry and steel.
In December, nine companies from Sichuan registered their businesses in the Kingdom, investing a total of $205 million in Cambodia’s construction, agriculture, tourism and service sectors, Ms Ying added.
“As of May, there were 13 projects from Sichuan province registered with the Council for the Development of Cambodia, worth a combined $17 million,” she said.
