London-based checker of rare gems and jewellery Intertek has established a laboratory in Cambodia to help regulate and provide guidelines for the gem trade. Officially opening today, it is the Kingdom’s first gem laboratory. Intertek director in Cambodia Khut Sothy said the country had been href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/kingdoms-first-gem-testing-lab-opens/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

US senators are pushing for a resolution that would use US influence within the Mekong basin to ensure that the construction of hydroelectric dams, such as the Xayaburi dam in Laos, would meet exacting environmental standards. The resolution would not be law but rather policy href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/us-senators-raise-mekong-dams/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Running down the middle of Mak Sitha’s newly renovated fashion boutique in Phnom Penh is a crack that is splitting her floor tiles in two. Yesterday, part of the floor at Lady Penh Designs began to cave into the ground. Like several other business and href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cracks-put-future-of-historic-buildings-in-doubt/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia’s property tax is to come into effect next month, though experts say the levy is not widely understood and may be too early. The property tax will initially focus on the capital’s properties, comprising an annual payment calculated of 0.1 percent of the value href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/property-tax-questions-asked/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

More than 300 villagers from Kampong Cham province’s Chamkar Leu, Memot, and Stung Trang districts gathered in Phnom Penh on Friday to protest against a plan to relocate them from their land in order to make way for rubber plantations. The villagers contend they have href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/more-rallies-against-rubber/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

A draft sub-decree sent to the Council of Ministers last week aims to strengthen the protection of the critically endangered Mekong dolphin population by designating key protection zones in the 180km stretch of Mekong River where the dolphins live. Touch Seang Tana, chairman of the Commission href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/new-draft-sub-decree-aims-to-bolster-dolphin-protection/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Small-scale health insurance policies can be an effective way to avoid drowning in debt, according to a survey released yesterday. Fifty-eight percent of 5,275 households surveyed in Kandal, Takeo and Kampot provinces had taken out loans, with health care and medical costs being the chief reason, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/medical-bills-lead-many-into-debt-survey-reveals/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodian officials yesterday welcomed statements from Thailand’s foreign minister that an all-important 2001 memorandum of understanding on the Overlapping Claims Area would most likely be renewed. Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul said the MoU would be sent to Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s cabinet on October 18 href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/thais-to-reconsider-oil-mou/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Hours after downgrading Cambodia’s long-term sovereign credit rating, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said it had also decided to lower the credit rating for Acleda Bank to B from B+, though it maintained its outlook for the bank as stable. The decision follows a similar decision href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/sp-downgrades-acleda-keeps-outlook-stable/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Two Cambodian banks have set aside US$200 million for loans to bolster the Kingdom’s struggling rice-milling industry, officials said yesterday. The move comes as the Cambodian government has called on the private sector to boost loans to rice millers during the harvest season as a way href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/banks-offer-millions-to-millers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Thailand will not object to the proposed Xayaburi hydropower dam in Laos, but Vientiane must shoulder responsibility for potential environmental damage caused by the US$3.8 billion project, the Bangkok Post reported yesterday. “Laos has the right to construct the dam as it is located inside Lao href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/controversial-dam-thailand-not-objecting-to-xayaburi/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodian tycoon Ly Yong Phat has signed a US$3 billion joint-venture agreement with Thai energy firm Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Plc on what would be the Kingdom’s largest power station. Just under 90 per cent of the power, however, would be sold to Thailand. The 1,800 megawatt href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/koh-kong-power-to-go-to-thais/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s call on Tuesday to strengthen cooperation among ASEAN members to protect the rights of migrant workers echoed recent comments by rights groups who say further protections are necessary as the 2015 deadline for an integrated economic community looms. As that deadline approaches, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/new-deal-eyed-for-migrant-workers/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia’s garment and footwear exports recorded double-digit growth to some $4 billion in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year, a National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) report has said. Industry insiders have speculated that the growth could be due href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/clothes-exports-kick-into-high-gear/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Half a million Cambodian farmers could possibly be looking at empty rice bowls if the European Union (EU) pushes through with the withdrawal of its Everything But Arms (EBA) trade preference. While the garment and footwear sectors stand to lose the most if the EBA trade href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodias-rice-farmers-in-serious-danger/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Provisional census figures released on Wednesday show that as of March 3, Cambodia’s population stood at 15,288,489 people – 7,869,912 women and 7,418,577 men – a 14.1 per cent increase since the previous census 11 years ago. Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, who is also href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/kingdoms-numbers-rise-as-census-puts-population-at-over-15-million/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The General Department of Taxation (GDT) said Chinese investment is contributing greatly to the Kingdom’s tax revenue and called on Chinese companies to properly fulfil their tax obligations. Speaking at a forum on Mechanism of Cambodia-China Fiscal Cooperation on Friday, GDT director-general Kong Vibol said: href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/gdt-chinese-companies-must-fulfil-duty-obligations/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The Ministry of Environment has said concerns over Phnom Penh’s air quality are being fuelled by “fake news” on social media sites by companies aiming to promote the sale of air quality testing kits.​​ “There has been a lot of fake news claiming that air href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/fake-news-fuels-smog-fears/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Municipal police are considering implementing high-tech security cameras from China to help solve traffic accidents and crack down on crimes in the capital. Lieutenant General Sar Thet, chief of Phnom Penh police, said on Facebook that he led a delegation in China yesterday to observe href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/capital-police-consider-installing-cctv-cameras-from-china/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

From January 1 to June 9, more than 6,000 patients received treatment for dengue fever at hospitals in Siem Reap province, out of whom eight died. The figure represents a sixfold increase compared to the same period last year when there were no casualties. Bou href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/siem-reap-sees-sixfold-rise-in-dengue-fever/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...