WorldBridge i4.0 SME Cluster zone is located on 6ha in southeastern Takhmao town. Photo supplied
WorldBridge Industrial Developments Co Ltd on November 27 broke ground on its long-awaited WorldBridge i4.0 SME Cluster zone in Kandal province.
Speaking at the ceremony, WorldBridge Group’s founding chairman Sear Rithy said the project was designed to bring together the Kingdom’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by optimising management of and providing assistance in interrelated and complementary competitive business processes.
“We are undertaking the project to serve existing SMEs at a suitable location and accelerate their production and productivity. We also want to attract SMEs from abroad to connect with local ones,” he said.
The project is located along National Road 21 on 6ha in Rokar Khpos commune’s Koh Kor village in southeastern Takhmao town, the provincial capital.
This is across from the “Satellite Serei Mongkul City” affordable housing project, which is under development by WorldBridge Homes Co Ltd, another of WorldBridge Group’s subsidiaries.
Rithy said the project will require investment in the order of $28-30 million and will be expanded if the demand for SME clustering dictates.
Slated to be completed in eight months, he said the SME cluster park is divided into seven sections that include a general service centre, an industrial equipment support centre that is flexible and easy to engage with, infrastructure installations and a logistics service centre.
“By formally investing in standardised services and reliable infrastructure for SMEs, the production line can really boost value-added, create human resources, save time, promote a mindset conducive to innovative production, perk up quality and enhance cost-effective management,” Rithy said.
At the event, Minister of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation Cham Prasidh said SMEs must embrace the technologies associated with the fourth industrial revolution and integrate them into their production in the cluster park.
He said: “We’ve set up the industrial cluster park to support and orient SMEs toward exporting goods to the world market.
“The industrial park is essential for them to churn out more exports and match market demand, and if they lack capital, the government has the capacity to lend via the state-owned financial institution Small and Medium Enterprise Bank of Cambodia Plc [SME Bank].
“We are pulling out all the stops to motivate them to bring the latest technology into the industrial cluster park for production and exports to satisfy market demand.”
Federation of Associations for Small and Medium Enterprises of Cambodia (Fasmec) president Te Taingpor said SMEs are vital engines of economic development and that SME cluster zones will provide them with the technology they need at each step of production chain.
“The SME cluster park will enable the sector to keep pace with those of neighbouring countries, as well as businesses shaped by Industry 4.0,” he said.
Through integration into the project, he said SMEs will find it easier to formulate their technical standards in compliance with domestic and international markets.
“I strongly hope that the cluster park will furnish the SMEs with sundry marketing and financial techniques, and I encourage more to flock in,” he said.
