Béton Block: a Step Further for Cambodia Construction

• 9 March 2018
• Local News
• 6974 Views

A new Béton Block & Pave factory in Cambodia has been established to provide high-quality standard construction materials to the kingdom’s market, and claims to be the first factory in Cambodia to produce cement blocks to French standards.

The factory, located in Oudong in Kompong Speu province around 30km from Phnom Penh, celebrated its grand opening at the Franch Embassy to Cambodia in late January. The factory will introduce a high-end French press block machine to manufacture various concrete products for the nation’s construction industry according to a press release issued before the event.

Serge Pak, CEO of Béton Block & Pave, told Construction & Property Magazine that the plant facility took nine months to complete, and has the vision to expand to another plant within two years.

Concrete products for masonry have been commonly used worldwide for decades, except in Cambodia where there has been no factory able to produce them to the same quality, he said.

“Our products will match the international standard requirements, and our goal is to bring new construction materials and new techniques that will improve the Cambodian construction industry in terms of time, labour and safety,” he added.

The high-end French cement block facility has already started to put its blocks into various projects in Cambodia. Those landmark projects include the Buddhist temple located at Wat Phnom where the concrete béton product was laid on its pavement. Seven building projects in the emerging satellite city development of Diamond Island have also seen the concrete block applied as well as many other industrial factories in Kompong Speu.

According to Mr. Serge Pak, one square metre of concrete block is cheaper and faster than red brick because of using less cement and less labour and its unique point is to protect against heat, and annoying sound that are usually absorbed into a room. One big block, he explained, is equivalent to eight small bricks, and this is considerably important in terms of a cost saving of 40 percent.

Over the last two decades, we have seen Cambodia as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with an average of 7 percent GDP growth every year, said a senior government officer.

Addressing the event, Phnom Penh governor Khoung Sreng said that the construction industry plays a crucial role in accelerating economic growth, and currently there are a total of 979 high-rise buildings in Phnom Penh city. This growth, he emphasised, proved that residential demand is consecutively increasing and attracting more foreign investors to inject capital in Cambodia.