As lake disappears, a development dilemma
Looking out from his house, held up by three-meter stilts on a peninsula that juts into Boeng Tompun lake, Chan Sokhom can see the sand inching closer to him every day. Within a few years, the sand will likely reach his doorstep. By then, Mr. Sokhom ...
Cameron Rhoads and Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-lake-disappears-a-development-dilemma-62718/
Growing Unease Over Direction of the Country, Survey Finds
There was a shift of almost seismic proportions between January and November 2013 as the number of people who believe the country is being steered in the right direction fell sharply, while the number of discontented citizens rose, according to a new report. Launching its annual ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/growing-unease-over-direction-of-the-country-survey-finds-51034/
ADB Admits Fault in Rail Project, Pledges Compensation
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has for the first time admitted to major flaws in its efforts to protect the roughly 4,000 families losing land to a $143 million project it is funding to rehabilitate Cambodia’s dilapidated railway system. On Friday, the ADB said it would ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/adb-admits-fault-in-rail-project-pledges-compensation-51210/
The Grain of Rice That Could Help Cambodia Grow
SAMRAONG TONG DISTRICT, Kompong Speu Province – Laughing, Ouch Samnang jumped back and forth over a skipping rope held by his classmates. The 13-year-old goes to school in a small village in Kompong Speu province, he has friends, five siblings and loving parents. Overall, he ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/the-grain-of-rice-that-could-help-cambodia-grow-32650/
City poised for shopping mall boom
After spending $30 on clothes, Chan Pheavy sat down for lunch in the food court of Sorya Mall, plunking her shopping bags on the floor beside her. “It is very comfortable to do shopping here,” Pheavy, 25, who works for a commercial bank in Phnom ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/city-poised-shopping-mall-boom
New Project Aims to Help Small Businesses in Cambodia
A new project by the government and Japan’s aid agency seeks to assist small companies in Cambodia that are in need of specialist advice in order to develop and keep up with competitors in neighboring Asean countries. The aim of the two-year program, called “Strategic Strengthening ...
Simon Henderson and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/new-project-aims-to-help-small-businesses-in-cambodia-41534/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-project-aims-to-help-small-businesses-in-cambodia
Poor Education Could Cripple Business Growth
Low-quality education is jeopardizing business growth in Cambodia, and local graduates will not be employable in skilled jobs if the government does not quickly implement educational reforms, business executives warned Thursday at the Cambodian Market Intel 2013 seminar in Phnom Penh. During an hourlong panel discussion ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/phnom-penh-listed-as-nsa-collection-point-48188/
BHP Billiton Faces Bribery Charges After Abandoned Project
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the country’s financial regulator have informed Australia-based mining giant BHP Billiton it could still be charged over allegations the company bribed overseas officials, which include claims of improper payments to members of the Cambodian government. Prime Minister Hun Sen ...
Hun Sen Offers ‘Back Pay’ to Ousted Opposition Lawmakers
Prime Minister Hun Sen has offered to pay back the lost salaries of opposition lawmakers who were stripped of their parliamentary posts in June by the then CPP-led National Assembly, a CNRP official said. The offer to back-pay the 27 lawmakers from the Sam Rainsy Party ...
Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/hun-sen-offers-back-pay-to-ousted-opposition-lawmakers-42679/
Activists Doubt Cambodia Pledge to Stop Land Concessions
Activists are skeptical that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will follow through on a pledge to stop a contentious practice of appropriating rural land for commercial use, an issue that hurt the leader and his party in elections in July. In its new five-year political platform ...
Chun Han Wong
http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-341290/
Cambodia: Chut Wutty's legacy creates an opportunity for land justice
In Cambodia, there is talk of change. Not just from Hun Sen, the prime minister, who has promised reforms after his party suffered a significant blow in recent elections, but from environmental activists and campaigners, who say there has never before been such an opportunity ...
Kate Hodal
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/oct/02/cambodia-chut-wutty-land
Labor Leaders Say Negotiations Should Continue
International trade leaders say Cambodia’s workers and managers should continue to negotiate for an increase in wages, despite a deadly crackdown on worker protests earlier this month. Workers want a raise in the minimum wage to $160 per month to keep up with the rising cost ...
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/labor-leaders-say-negotiations-should-continue/1837064.html
During ‘Free the 23’ Protests, Where Was CNRP?
Late last month, protesters calling for the release of 23 imprisoned workers and activists clashed with district security guards on Phnom Penh’s Norodom Boulevard. Batons, rocks and punches were thrown, and a handful of people on both sides were left bruised and bloodied. Later that week, opposition ...
Colin Meyn and Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/during-free-the-23-protests-where-was-cnrp-52228/
In Cambodia, culture shapes identity, spurs economic growth
Last year, the United Nations called for culture to be given top priority in the post-2015 global development agenda, citing its importance to economic growth, social inclusion, equality, and sustainable development. It is difficult to quantify the impact culture has on a nation, particularly for a developing ...
Julia Chen
http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2014/02/12/in-cambodia-culture-shapes-identity-spurs-economic-growth/
Siam Kubota launches Cambodia, Laos units
Siam Kubota Corporation Co Ltd is set to expand its business by opening subsidiaries in Cambodia and Laos as part of its preparation for the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. Siam Kubota has invested a total of Bt68 million in the two ...
Erich Parpart
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Siam-Kubota-launches-Cambodia-Laos-units-30228172.html
Cambodia’s Excess Baggage
“I don’t know what I was expecting, but I wasn’t going expecting to look out the bus window and see all the blue bags along the roads and in the fields,” said 27-year-old Christopher Convery, who is currently backpacking for the first time in Cambodia. ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/selected-features/cambodias-excess-baggage-22003/
Hun Sen Mute After Initial Election Remarks
Over the past three weeks, a standoff between the long-ruling CPP and newly strengthened opposition CNRP has made for an increasingly tense political environment. But almost entirely missing from the equation has been Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose last public appearance was 18 days ago when ...
Colin Meyn and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/hun-sen-mute-after-initial%E2%80%88election-remarks-40372/
PHNOM PENH CONDOMINIUM MARKET IS BOOSTED BY HIGH SALES RATES, PROMPTING FURTHER CONSTRUCTION
The condominium market in Phnom Penh is still very much within its early stage of development and thus is unlikely to flourish until there is a cultural shift towards owner occupants relocating to condominium developments within the city. This however will be heavily dependent on the ...
Cambodian Business Review Staff, P.18
http://www.cambisreview.com
VN Rubber Company Says It Improves Forest
The Vietnamese Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) company, the majority shareholder of several economic land concessions in Ratanakkiri province, on Friday rebuffed accusations that it had logged forests and forced evictions, claiming that its activities improved the environment and the livelihoods of locals. Through several companies, ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/vn-rubber-company-says-it-improves-forest-47771/
Anti-Eviction Protesters Clash With Security Forces
Protesters, including a band of angry monks, clashed with military and riot police on Thursday in Phnom Penh as authorities tried to prevent a local housing rights group from carrying out a rally against forced evictions. Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF), a coalition of five local ...
Alex Willemyns and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/anti-eviction-protesters-clash-with-security-forces-44882/