PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - A Chinese firm is drawing up plans to invest US$3 billion (S$4 billion) in Cambodia, including projects in the electricity, real estate and metal processing sectors, a Cambodian government official said on Thursday.

Eang Sophalleth, a personal assistant to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, said a delegation from Inner Mongolia Erdos Hongjun Investment Corp had met the government, which had thrown its support behind the venture.

The projects will include the building of coal-fired power plants, real estate and the processing of aluminium for both export and use in Cambodia," Eang Sophalleth said.

There was no calendar yet for the project and the investment would be spread over several years.

The company was registered this year and is based in Erdos, a city known for its coal and wool industries in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, according to an Erdos government website.

Eang Sophalleth said he did not know which local firms might be involved with the venture.

The Chinese website says the company would set up a joint venture with Cambodia International Investment Development Group, which operates a special investment zone in Sihanoukville in the Hsouth, to build two power plants, one for completion in 2013 and the other in 2014.

Chinese investors are increasingly active in Cambodia, pledging to invest $8 billion in 360 projects in the impoverished Southeast Asian country in the first seven months of this year, mostly in electricity and agriculture.

Bilateral trade between the two countries reached $627 million in the first six months of the year, a 37 per cent increase over the same period last year.