The Cambodia Iron & Steel Mining Industry Company (Cambodia Steel; a Chinese firm established in Phnom Penh in 2006) has awarded the contract to the Beijing-based China Railway Group for the construction of a railway link, a steel plant, and a seaport. The steel plant (in Preah Vihear province in the north) will be connected to the seaport (on the southern commercial island of Koh Kong) by the 400 km rail link. The rail link and the port project entail a total expenditure of $9.6 billion, with the steel plant requiring an investment of $1.6 billion. All construction works will commence in 2013 and will take up to four years to complete.
