Thailand’s Amata Eyes Cambodia

KHMER TIMES
CHEA VANNAK

Vikrom Kromadit, founder and CEO of Amata. Cambodia is wellsuited to attract investment from both Thailand and Vietnam, he said. Supplied

Thailand’s Amata Corporation Plc., which is the country’s largest listed conglomerate in the industrial estate sector, is keen to set up a special economic zone (SEZ) in Cambodia due to the Kingdom’s strategic geographical location in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

The plan was announced on Sunday at a meeting between Prime Minister Hun Sen and Amata’s founder and CEO Vikrom Kromadit, according to Mr. Hun Sen’s Facebook page.

Mr. Vikrom was quoted as saying that Amata is currently studying the feasibility of investing in Cambodia to take advantage of the country’s location between Thailand and Vietnam.

“Cambodia is well-suited to attract investment from both Thailand and Vietnam,” said Mr. Vikrom.

“Amata has established SEZs in Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar and is now doing a feasibility study on setting up one in Cambodia,” he added.

Amata specializes in planning, developing, managing, and marketing integrated industrial estates.

“The company strives not only to provide a good location for businesses, but also to create integrated cities under the operation of the company’s subsidiaries and associates, with a range of services designed to support its client companies and the people who work for them, such as an international standard road system, reliable utilities, waste disposal facilities, and well-maintained green areas,” Amata’s 2015 annual report states.

Both Mr. Hun Sen and Mr. Vikrom did not reveal the value of Amata’s investment in Cambodia. However, Mr. Hun Sen said he was willing to take up an honorary position in the Amata SEZ in Cambodia once it opens.

In the context of the Asean Economic Community and the Greater Mekong Sub-region, Cambodia is well-placed geographically to attract investment from Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, with the added benefit of low local wages for workers in the light manufacturing sector.

But impediments remain. The price of electricity is high, compared to Vietnam, infrastructure is poor and the skill sets of workers are still low.

Mr. Hun Sen said in his meeting with Mr. Vikrom said that the government was striving to bring down electricity costs to make them comparable with neighboring countries, in order to attract more investment.

Mey Kalyan, senior advisor to the government’s Supreme Economic Council, said that new investments ‒ like that of Amata’s ‒ will contribute to the national economy. However, he said, the issue of poor infrastructure and logistics, and the lack of skilled workers in the country need to be addressed urgently.

“Foreign investors are attracted to Cambodia because we have a young workforce. But their skills need to be upgraded, if not we will lose out to other countries that have better skilled workers,” added Mr. Kalyan.

Foreign investment from Thailand in Cambodia was valued $25 million in the first six months of the year, according to figures from the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh.