Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ) has signed an agreement with a Singaporean clean energy firm to install and operate a solar panel system inside the 357-hectare industrial park, the company said yesterday in a press release. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/industrial-park-to-install-solar-energy-system/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

In what one commentator described as “a bold step”, the Interior Ministry’s prisons department has seemingly admitted it has a drug problem, and last week sent a letter requesting the Health Ministry’s assistance in tackling it. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/interior-ministry-admits-to-prison-drug-problem/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Officials from China’s Export-Import Bank are expected to visit Cambodia this week to study granting a loan to a Chinese construction firm to build a $1.6 billion, 190-kilometer long expressway from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/chinese-firm-seeks-funding-for-sihanoukville-expressway/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The National Assembly (NA) yesterday approved a proposal by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to punish politicians who are absent from parliamentary meetings without a “reasonable” explanation, the assembly spokesman said, after a boycott by the opposition. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/absent-mps-salaries-to-be-cut/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The owners of Hong Sopheap Development Company in Preah Vihear have been arrested days after military police carried out a massive raid on a 4,000 hectare social land concession (SLC) that the company holds a licence to log. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/company-owners-employees-arrested-over-huge-timber-raid/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Villagers involved in a long-running land dispute in Kratie province’s Sambor district have prevented soldiers from building a fence around disputed land that the army intends to use as a sniper training ground. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/villagers-soldiers-in-land-battle/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

More than a tonne of rosewood and the plateless car carrying it were seized in Oddar Meanchey province yesterday after authorities received a report about a Vietnamese woman and her workers trying to set the vehicle on fire. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/trader-sought-truck-with-illegal-wood-impounded/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Police officers, gendarmes and Forestry Administration officials yesterday discovered a large cache of valuable, illegally felled wood – which locals say was destined for Vietnam – after raiding a house in Stung Treng province linked to a prominent timber trader. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/oknha-linked-to-timber-bust/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

More than 400 pieces of luxury thnong wood suspected to be felled by a local community were seized by authorities in Pursat province’s Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary on Thursday following a tip-off from a local reporter. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/loggers-busted-in-phnom-samkos-wildlife-sanctuary/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia’s foreign affairs minister and his Laotian counterpart will hold a two-day meeting in Phnom Penh this week to draft a letter to France requesting detailed maps to resolve a border dispute that flared up last month. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambodia-laos-to-seek-french-help-on-border/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

International fund transfers to Cambodia through Acleda Bank, which claims to handle a quarter of all inbound fund transfers to the country, decreased slightly last year as a result of lower rice prices, a bank executive said yesterday. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/decline-in-transfers-linked-to-rice-prices/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Phnom Penh will begin measuring the homes of hundreds of families seeking land titles to stave off potential eviction by a massive real-estate project filling in a pair of lakes, a municipal government spokesman said on Tuesday. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/city-hall-to-measure-land-of-lake-families-fearing-eviction/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

A Koh Kong environmental official yesterday said a company with a sand-washing facility in an area where the Ministry of Mines and Energy last month banned sand dredging would be allowed to keep and operate its facility. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/sand-facility-allowed-to-operate/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Move over, Cintri – there’s a new garbage collector in town. For the first time in a dozen years, Sihanoukville has a new waste management company, and it has already started collecting trash ahead of the Pchum Ben holiday. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/new-firm-takes-over-for-cintri-to-tackle-trash-in-sihanoukville/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

A river bird that was once a common sight along the Mekong River is now down to a population of just 50 to 60 individuals due to human interference and dam construction, conservationists and Environment Ministry officials said yesterday. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/nest-plan-must-expand-to-protect-rare-river-bird-say-environmental-groups/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Radio broadcaster and former Beehive Party President Mam Sonando was served a summons last week by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to appear as a witness in relation to a “treason” case filed against former opposition President Kem Sokha. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/ex-beehive-leader-sonando-called-in-kem-sokha-case/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The prime minister lashed out at journalists and analysts today for questioning the current government’s reform record, a seeming reference to a Post article from December about a speech in which he touted his administration’s progress. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/hun-sen-lashes-out-at-journos-analysts-over-comments-on-reform-record/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

The Cambodia Economy Reinforced Association has submitted a letter to Banteay Meanchey provincial authorities asking permission to hold a massive demonstration for four days to demand a reduction in the price of crossing the Thai border. ​ href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/vendors-to-protest-for-border-fee-reductions/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Garment workers from Phnom Penh’s Lim Line factory will resume work today after reaching an agreement with the factory following 11 days of protest that culminated in a violent strike Friday, a union and a factory representative said yesterday. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/garment-staff-resume-work-after-deal-is-struck/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia’s construction sector attracted a total investment of US$342 million in the first three months of 2012, a 5-percent increase from US$324 million from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/investment-in-cambodias-construction-sector-up-5-per-cent-in-q1/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...