A cancer hospital in Singapore announced it was bringing proton therapy to Southeast Asia.

The National Cancer Center Singapore said Thursday it had plans to build a $100 million proton therapy center in the basement of a new medical campus. Construction on the center would start in 2014, and likely wrap up three years later, the center said.

"This is a major milestone for Singapore," the center's director, Soo Khee Chee, said in a statement.

Once finished, the center would treat about 1,000 patients a year, according to an Asia One report.

In Asia, proton therapy is currently available in Japan, China and Korea.