Cambodia has great potential in hydropower development and the country could build and tap up to 10,000 megawatts from hydropower dams, said an energy official on Thursday.

"At the present, about 10 percent of the hydropower potential is under construction," Heng Kunleang, chief of the energy development department at the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, said during a launching workshop on Sustainable Energy for All.

According to the ministry's report, Chinese companies have invested over 1.6 billion US dollars to construct six hydroelectric dams with the total capacity of 928 megawatts in Cambodia.

Among the six dams, three hydropower dams--the Kamchay hydroelectric dam with 194 megawatt capacity, Kirirom I dam with 12 megawatt capacity and Kirirom III dam with 18 megawatt capacity-- were completed and the dams have been put in operations.

The other three dams under construction are the Tatay River hydropower dam with 246 megawatt capacity, the Atay River hydropower dam of 120 megawatt capacity and the Russei Chrum Krom dam with 338 megawatt capacity.

All the projects are expected to be completed by 2015.

Suy Sem, minister of Industry, Mines and Energy, said that the country is much in need of electricity because it is a key element for the social and sustainable economic development.

"Chinese investment in this sector is very vital for Cambodia's social and economic development and poverty alleviation," Suy Sem told Xinhua last week.