Loan to help finance water plant in northern Phnom Penh

25 Jun 2019 2052 | Business & Trade Fairs

The Finance Ministry last week signed a concessional loan pact with the European Investment Bank to help finance its large-scale water treatment facility in northern Phnom Penh.

According to a Finance Ministry statement, a total of $100 million was supposed to be given, but the Kingdom will initially receive $60 million. The rest is to be distributed at a later time.

It said the water treatment facility, to be located in Russey Keo district’s Bak Khaeng commune, will cost $247 in total, noting that a $85 million concessional loan was provided by the French Development Agency, a $15 million soft loan was provided by the EU/Asian Investment Facility, while $47 million came from Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority, who is behind the project’s development.

The statement said construction of the water plant will commence this year and is expected to conclude in 2022.

It said the water treatment plant would hike production capacity to 195,000 cubic metres of clean water per day, 560,000 cubic metres higher than current production figures.

It noted that the facility will produce water taken from the Mekong river, and that PPWSA was the first company to list on local bourses.

According to a report, PPWSA was able to pull $61.64 million last year, a 6.7 percent hike compared to 2017’s $58 million.

The report said production continues to increase, and that PPWSA is expecting that its share price will soon rise.

Try Taihy, managing officer at CSX, said a PPWSA listing would attract more investors.

“Although the facility development takes some time to get ready, it would likely help to increase PPWSA share price so that it can grow,” Mr Taihy said. “Some investors consider that when production grows, dividend goes up as well – this could increase share price starting next year.”