Techno Park Poipet – a wholly owned rental factory operated and built by Japan’s Toyota Tsusho Corporation, the distribution arm of Japanese auto giant Toyota – officially launched its rental factory operations last Friday.

Located within the Sanco Poipet Special Economic Zone, the Techno Park has already signed up four Japanese tenants and one Thai tenant since it first began sales in September 2016. The launch of the rental factory operations signals the approaching start of manufacturing by the five tenants.

Yuichi Ooi, president of Techno Park Poipet, said at the inauguration ceremony that Techno Park is different from other industrial parks in Cambodia as it focuses on providing services to support the growth of international companies, especially those involved in the manufacturing of small electronic components.

“As Poipet has a large abundance of labour and is becoming a strategic location for the Thailand Plus One investment model, there are more and more Japanese and foreign firms wanting to set up shop here,” he said. “I believe that the number of manufacturers will increase very fast in Poipet.”

The $3 million Techno Park is set to lure dozens more tenants in the Sanco Special Economic Zone, which sits along the Thai border and is approximately 230 kilometres, or four hours, from Bangkok. The model, already successfully deployed by Toyota in India, Thailand and China, provides space and services for Japanese-affiliated auto parts manufacturers to set up operations. In addition to traditional services offered by industrial parks, the Techno Park will introduce staffing services for worker retention that aims to teach agrarian workers manufacturing skills. It will also assist with custom clearance procedures as well as subcontracting processes for factory outfitting.

Sok Chenda Sophea, secretary-general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), said that he welcomed the presence of companies that are set to be held in the Techno Park, as all of them are related to higher-skilled electronic and automotive manufacturing. He said it was a good sign that Cambodia could diversify its manufacturing base.

While he said that the Thailand Plus One business model, which envisions capturing manufacturers that are expanding operations to neighbouring countries, was starting to gain traction, he added that Poipet would serve as a strategic location in the future. However, he added that all relevant stakeholders need to provide proper manufacturing facilities to encourage growth.

“If we want to attract new investors, we need to do whatever we can to please the existing investors,” he said. “Once the existing investors are happy, they will bring with them other potential investors.”