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/
Threat to unleash ‘paratroopers’ in land dispute
About 200 villagers locked in a land dispute with the Chinese-owned Union Development Group (UDG) in Koh Kong province said they were warned on Friday that “paratroopers” would be brought in if they continued to block a road to the company’s headquarters in Botum Sakor ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/threat-to-unleash-paratroopers-in-land-dispute-51740/
2,500 workers in Bavet SEZ go on strike
More than 2,000 workers at three factories in Svay Rieng’s Bavet City went on strike Saturday, claiming their bosses owed them money. About 500 workers at the You Li factory, which makes baby clothes, went on strike Saturday because management refused to pay them for Thursday ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/2500-workers-in-bavet-sez-go-on-strike-56762/
After strong start, city bus’ future unclear
After a monthlong test run saw 10 buses often filled with passengers, a Chinese-owned company promised in early March to inject millions into the project and add hundreds of new buses. But Global Trade Development left the project last month after the municipality refused to grant ...
Hul Reaksmey and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-strong-start-city-bus-future-unclear-58640/
Hun Sen Says More Die on Roads Than in War
Road traffic accidents are killing more Cambodians per year than those who died annually as a result of war during their country’s more than two decades of armed conflict, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday. Speaking in Battambang province’s Bavel district at the inauguration of the ...
Khy Sovuthy and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-says-more-die-on-roads-than-in-war-53853/
Youths heed city's siren call
When 29-year-old store manager Srey Mom sent her mother in Takeo province some money to pay young people to help with the rice planting, her mother told her it was no use – the young people had abandoned the village to seek their fortunes in ...
TNT expands Asia Road Network
TNT Express linked its Chinese day-definite domestic road services into its Asia Road Network. This has created the only scheduled day-definite road network covering China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, said the operator. CEO Marie-Christine Lombard said: “With the integration of TNT’s two ...
http://www.ifw-net.com/freightpubs/ifw/index/tnt-expands-asia-road-network/20017904622.htm
Conference Highlights the Country's Math Deficiency
Education experts and professors from around the world gathered over the weekend in Phnom Penh to discuss ways to strengthen mathematics in Cambodia and other developing countries. the problem is not a lack of student capability, said Lin Mongkolsery, a mathematics teacher at the Institute ...
Defiance Greets World Bank's Funding Freeze
Government officials yesterday dismissed the World Bank’s recently revealed decision to freeze funding for new projects in Cambodia to protest a Phnom Penh real estate project that has forced thousand of families out of their homes. A housing rights group closely following the evictions said ...
City Hall Bans Sand Transport Across Both Monivong Bridges
Officials in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district said yesterday that all transportation of sand across the old and new Preah Monivong bridges has been banned for the duration of the rainy season to protect the road surface and avoid accidents. According to a City Hall announcement ...
Investment in mining operations falls sharply
Guangxi Nonferrous Metal Group invested $21.95 million in the construction of a steel processing plant, the data shows. The Chinese company planned to invest as much as $500 million in Preah Vihear province, China’s state-owned Xinhua news agency reported in November. China’s Xing Yuan Kang Yeak ...
PM gives pro-dolphin decree
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday approved a new sub-decree geared toward increased protection of the endangered Mekong river dolphin through a series of fishing and motorised transport restrictions in the Mekong river in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces. The Council of Minister’s sub-decree, obtained on ...
Questions over bonuses
Unions and labour groups fear a solitary sick day could cost garment workers their entire month’s attendance bonuses – about 15 per cent of their base wage – under a new scheme meant to make life easier. The Kingdom’s 600,000 garment and footwear workers will receive ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090558510/National-news/questions-over-bonuses.html
As tourism grows, so do questions about sustainability
While tourism officials are pleased about the healthy growth of tourism in Cambodia, the influx of visitors might not be so healthy for the Kingdom’s main attraction-the temple complex of Angkor Wat near Siem Reap. New figures from the Siem Reap tourist office show that about ...
Cambodia Takes Aim at the Dominant Dollar
PHNOM PENH—In its home country, the Cambodian riel has long played second fiddle to the U.S. dollar—but a new stock exchange and government de-dollarization policies could bolster it in coming years, policy makers and experts say. Dollars change hands with greater frequency than riel in the ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303772904577336784184598356.html
Strategy for ventures: convince yourself
One of the two partners who have created Cambodia’s leading food and beverage company, with 22 outlets, says business is not merely about money, but more about finding a need and serving the need. Kouch Sokly says entrepreneurs need to find out what the market needs ...
Book Outlines Best of Both Worlds for Cardamom Mountains
The protectionist bent of conservation groups and the development agenda of the government can come together in Cambodia to create a green economy. That is the message of a new book Conservation International (C.I.) launched yesterday in Phnom Penh, outlining practical options for saving the environment ...
Gov’t Asks Global Fund to Unblock $20 Million Malaria Grant
A Health Ministry official said yesterday the government was still hoping to recoup the last $20 million of a Global Fund grant for fighting malaria that the international charity has held back because of Cambodia’s poor use of fund dollars. Last week, a spokesman for the ...
Firm says gold deposit discovered in Mondolkiri
Renaissance Minerals announced Friday it has discovered a high-grade gold deposit in an area in Mondolkiri province that lies within the Australian firm’s Cambodian Gold Project. The new find is located about 500 meters to the northeast of the company’s Okvau exploration zone. The announcement comes ...
Phnom Penh's Historic Quarter to go to Pedestrian
A new tourist promenade is to open in the heart of Phnom Penh’s old French quarter. Scheduled for a February opening, the tourist walk zone will provide an outdoor leisure area on street 13 that will be closed to cars and motorbikes on weekends from ...