One Cambodian company is putting the pedal to the metal after having received the approval from Prime Minister Hun Sen to begin construction on the country's first automobile assembly plant, national media reported Friday.

The 60 million U.S. dollars factory will assemble cars for the South Korean automobile maker Hyundai, which will supply vehicle parts, Lim Visal, assembly plant coordinator for Camco Motor Company was quoted by the Cambodia Daily newspaper as saying.

"The assembly factory will be constructed on 16.5 hectares of land in the Special Economic Zone in Koh Kong province and a car showroom will be opened in Phnom Penh," Lim Visal said, adding that the target date for the start of production is the middle of 2010.

Lim Visal said 500 workers will be hired for the construction of the plant, 1,000 after the construction is complete and possibly a total of 3,000 in the next 10 years.

"The company plans to hire locally to man the plant and some of those hired will be sent to South Korea to train," he said.

Source: Xinhua