(Yicai Global) March 6 -- Chinese construction firm Sino Great Wall Co. has secured an almost USD47-million dollar contract to build waterside villas along the Mekong River in Cambodia as it looks to expand in the Southeast Asian nation under China's Belt and Road strategy.

Oxley Emerald Cambodia Co. accepted the Guangdong-based company's bid to build 16 blocks of detached villas and 204 blocks of townhouses by Dec. 14 next year, Sino Great Wall said in a statement. Construction will begin on March 15.

The contract is the third between Sino Great Wall and Oxley Emerald affiliates. The two previously paired up in a USD159-million housing project in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, and a USD285-million village development project named after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

One of China's leading overseas engineering contractors, Sino Great Wall has marched into a host of Belt and Road countries, including Kuwait, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and the Philippines. Its total project orders under the strategy have topped USD7 billion.

The One Belt, One Road initiative was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. It is a grand 30- to 40-year plan to develop infrastructure and trade routes along a major network of railroads, highways, ports and highways in Asia, Europe and Africa.