Despite ELC ban, minister talks of new land deals
Two-and-a-half years after Prime Minister Hun Sen imposed a freeze on the granting of economic land concessions (ELCs), Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Monday appeared to leave the door open to the government giving more companies access to the often-controversial land holdings. At a press ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/despite-elc-ban-minister-talks-of-new-land-deals-68632/
Minister helps open controversial tycoon’s new rubber farm
Environment Minister Say Sam Al was in Preah Vihear province on Sunday to help inaugurate Try Pheap’s newest project, a $52-million rubber plantation and additional facilities that the timber magnate has cleared thousands of hectares of protected forest to build. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-helps-open-controversial-tycoons-new-rubber-farm-88896/
Malaysia Fails to Guarantee Cambodian Maids’ Human Rights
The Ministry of Labor hopes that a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will see Cambodia resume sending domestic workers to Malaysia by February, but negotiations on the document have stalled after Malaysia recently rejected 90 percent of proposed provisions to protect workers’ rights. Most strikingly, Malaysia ...
Matt Blomberg and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/malaysia-fails-to-guarantee-cambodian-maids-human-rights-49629/
Institutional reforms or leadership change?
A Cabinet reshuffle is expected this year after Prime Minister Hun Sen warned that if there were no quick and effective reforms, several cabinet ministers would be removed. The Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Agriculture have been rated as the lowest performers, but other ...
Chheang Vannarith
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22338/institutional-reforms-or-leadership-change-/
Sambo hydro dam info urged
Youth groups and environmental activists have requested the government release the latest documents concerning the proposed Sambo hydroelectric dam in Kratie province, amid lingering concerns of the possible environmental damage the dam may cause. The dam, if constructed, will be the largest in the country and ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/30164/sambo-hydro-dam-info-urged/
Joint online tax system
The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s general taxation department plan to jointly operate an online business tax registration system in a bid to strengthen tax collection in the country and root out corruption. Sok Sopheak, under-secretary of state of the Ministry ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/29545/joint-online-tax-system/
Stung Treng officials crack down on dredging site
Stung Treng provincial authorities on Friday shut down an illegal sand dredging operation on the Sesan River and confiscated equipment after having warned the company to cease operations since December, officials said yesterday. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/stung-treng-officials-crack-down-dredging-site
Vietnamese fishing boat escapes chase
Authorities yesterday chased a Vietnamese fishing boat suspected of conducting illegal fishing off the coast of Preah Sihanouk province. Police reported that a Vietnamese trawler was damaged during the operation conducted by Cambodian coastal guards. ...
Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50106696/vietnamese-fishing-boat-escapes-chase/
PM orders investigation into Koh Kong land grab
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday ordered the Koh Kong provincial governor to clarify reports that state mangrove forests in the province have been grabbed and filled with sand to create land for development. Speaking during the closing ceremony for an annual conference on decentralisation, Mr Hun ...
Ven Rathavong
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50110227/pm-orders-investigation-koh-kong-land-grab/
Analysis: The government has announced plans to cover workers’ severance, but is it the best solution to factory disputes?
The government will begin to pay out of pocket for severance wages for labourers at abruptly shuttered factories whose owners have fled, effectively enacting a pro-worker policy without further burdening private businesses – albeit at the risk of discouraging good corporate citizenship, experts say. ...
Yon Sineat and Brendan O’Byrne
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-depth-business/analysis-government-has-announced-plans-cover-workers-severance-it-best-solution
Sand facility allowed to operate
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. ...
Phak Seangly and Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sand-facility-allowed-operate
Chinese nuclear pact in the works
Cambodia and China are close to inking an agreement that would bring the Kingdom another step closer to developing its own nuclear technology, officials said yesterday, although it would not be used initially to bolster its electricity production. ...
Daphne Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/chinese-nuclear-pact-works
Rise in timber exports to Vietnam
The value of logs and sawn wood exported from Cambodia to Vietnam last year increased by about $31.5 million compared to 2016, customs data has shown. The Vietnamese data, obtained by Khmer Times yesterday, said about 163,071 cubic metres of Cambodian logs were imported to the ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50107116/rise-timber-exports-vietnam/
Government swaps 30 hectares
The Ministry of Interior is giving 30 hectares of land to a well-connected development company in exchange for a smaller piece of land on the southern outskirts of Phnom Penh. The land swap, announced in a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on January 18, ...
Mech Dara and Daphne Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/government-swaps-30-hectares
Pig farmers ditch task force to monitor smuggling
A private sector task force set up by Cambodia’s pig farmers to monitor live swine imports and investigate reports of illicit smuggling has been disbanded after receiving a cold reception from government officials, the initiative’s leader said yesterday. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/pig-farmers-ditch-task-force-monitor-smuggling
Ministries collaborate on eco-tourism policy
he Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Environment expect to complete a national draft eco-tourism policy by August to coincide with the second National Forum on the Protection and Conservation of Natural Resources, an environment official said yesterday. ...
Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ministries-collaborate-eco-tourism-policy
Cambodian migrant workers return from Thailand
Despite the Thai government’s temporary backtracking on its harsh punishments of undocumented migrant workers, hundreds of Cambodians working in Thailand continued to pour back into their home country yesterday. ...
Leonie Kijewski and Yon Sineat
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodian-migrant-workers-return-thailand
TRC wants SIM guarantee
Cambodia’s telecommunications regulator has called on seven mobile network operators to give an assurance by September 1 that they have registered all their subscribers in accordance with a directive from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication and the Ministry of Interior. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/5078934/trc-wants-sim-guarantee/
Ministries to form taskforce to protect forests
The Environment Ministry has requested the National Defence Ministry to form a joint working group over the use of land in natural protected areas to cut down on land disputes and instances of illegal logging. Defence Ministry spokesman General Chhum Sucheat said both parties agreed last ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50110603/ministries-form-taskforce-protect-forests/
Tea Banh 'hurt' by calls for PM to step down
A day after a bipartisan election reform committee put the neutrality of the armed forces into a list of proposed areas of reform, Defence Minister Tea Banh reiterated that the armed forces would not tolerate opposition supporters calling for Hun Sen to step down. ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tea-banh-hurt-calls-pm-step-down