MOFCOM provides $4 million grant for Council of Ministers Bodyguard Building Project

In 2015, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) provided a grant worth approximately $4 million to the Cambodian Ministry of Economy and Finance for the Council of Ministers Bodyguard Building Project. The purpose of the project was to construct a building for the Council of Ministers Bodyguard Unit (Command) in Toul Krosang (Toul Krasang), Takhmao City, Kandal Province. The project was completed and the building was officially inaugurated on June 21, 2018. The, on January 22, 2019, a project handover (consignment) certificatd was signed by Cambodian Ministry of Economy and Finance Secretary of State Vongsey Vissoth and Chinese Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Prime Minister’s Bodyguard Building Project. The Khmer project title was អគារបញ្ជាការដ្ឋានអង្គរក្ស or ធអគារបញ្ជាការដ្ឋានអង្គរក្សទួលក្រសាំង or គម្រោងសង់អគារអង្គរក្ស នៃទីស្តីការគណៈ រដ្ឋមន្រ្តី​ គម្រោងលើកកម្រិតផ្លូវ. 2. For the time being, AidData has assumed that MOFCOM financed the entire project cost ($4 million). This issue warrants further investigation. 3. The 2015 grant commitment date is an approximation based on the first year in which the Cambodian Government began working with the Chinese Government on the Council of Ministers Bodyguard Building Project. 4. The Council of Ministers bodyguard unit has been described as a ‘3,000-strong private army equipped with armoured personnel carriers, missile launchers and Chinese-made machine guns’. It formed a highly unusual ‘military-commercial alliance’ in 2010 with Unite International, a company controlled by Fu Xianting, a well-connected Chinese tycoon who has big tourism interests in Cambodia. Unite International donated 220 motorbikes to the Council of Ministers bodyguard unit in 2009.

Number of official sources

1

Number of total sources

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