China to back Kampot power plant

An unnamed Chinese investor will put nearly US$400 million into a 300-megawatt coal-powered plant in Kampot province, officials said yesterday. The plant, slated for a November groundbreaking, will provide power for the Kampot Special Economic Zone, the nearby Prey Nob oil refinery in Preah Sihanouk province and rice mills after a 30-month construction period, said Vinh Huor, president of Kampot Port. He refused to name the Chinese party that planned to invest. China – or at least investment dollars from several of its state owned firms – has been instrumental in funding power facilities in Cambodia. In December, Sinohydro Corp completed the Kamchay hydropower dam, the country’s first large-scale power facility. A Chinese company is also behind a coal-fired plant near Sinhanoukville. Last week, Cambodia approved a $102 million loan from China for the construction of a new dam in Battambang province. “This is important and we want such investment,” said Kampot Provincial Governor Khoy Khunhour. “China completed the Kamchay hydropower dam project nearly one year sooner than expected, even as the world faced the economic crisis in 2008. Other investment in Kampot left but China did not go anywhere. What China says, it does.”

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