Kampong Speu province has proven a magnet for new business investments in the last year between September 2023 to August 2024. The region witnessed the approval of 95 new inward investment projects by the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), marking the highest investment approval tally of any province, nationwide, during the period.
The newly approved projects in Kampong Speu also reflect over a quarter of the total project approvals nationwide in the same period, the CDC greenlighting a total of 391 across the country in the previous 12 months.
According to a recent recap by Kampong Speu Provincial Governor Cheam Chansophoan, while the province received the highest number of new investment projects in recent periods, with a tally of 95 projects approved, Svay Rieng province was also a standout performer in the same time frame, having seen 73 new investment projects approved by the CDC in the last 12 months.
Cheam explained that the type of investment projects consisted of 52 percent industrial-based investments and factories, 39 percent related to the infrastructure sector, 8 percent tourism-related investments and 8 percent in the agriculture and agro-processing sector.
According to Cheam, the nationwide approval of 391 investment projects between September 2023 to August 2024 represents a sum of investment capital of more than $7.5 billion, as well as the potential to create close to 341,000 new jobs for Cambodian employees nationwide.
He also noted that many of the new investments fall outside of established special economic zones (SEZs), with 261 of the 391 newly approved investment projects located outside of SEZs and 130 within SEZs.
The governor also commended a considerable increase in new investments nationwide under the 7th legislature of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC).
During this most recent 12-month period, Cheam confirmed that the approval of new investment projects increased by a substantial 168 projects, which is over 160 percent higher than the approved investments confirmed during the previous year, under the 6th legislature of the RGC.
The projects greenlighted by the CDC in the past year also reflect a swift increase in investment capital, rising to close to $4.67 billion in the period.
In terms of the source of investment capital, China has remained the dominant force within the incoming investment market.
Over 60.4 percent of new projects funding has been from Chinese investment sources in the last 12 months, while domestic investment accounted for 32.3 percent of the total.
This leaves around 7 percent of incoming funding for new investment projects coming from other international destinations.
These ongoing flows of investments into Kampong Speu province mark the continued confidence from large-scale investors in the prospects of launching projects in the region, and Cambodia at large.
Kampong Speu province is now second only to Phnom Penh in terms of the overall number of factories and business enterprises in operation, according to a data survey conducted by the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training (MLVT) in 2023.
In 2023, Kampong Speu province had a total of 385 factories and enterprises.
To run these various enterprises, the province employed more than 155,000 workers.
While traditional manufacturing industries such as garments remain dominant in the province, diversification is occurring swiftly towards now types of manufacturing investments.
Out of the 385 operations surveyed in 2023 by the MLVT, 191 represented garment-related factories.
