Chinese Firms Foresee Industrial Hub in Preah Vihear
Preah Vihear province – The residents of this sleepy district, on the edge of the Boeng Per Wildlife Sanctuary, grow rice, cassava and cashew nuts. But in a few short years, Chinese investors envisage that Rovieng will be rapidly transformed into an industrial town. ...
Phnom Penh Governor Leaves Behind Mixed Legacy
During his speech last week at the swearing-in ceremony of Phnom Penh’s new governor, Pa Socheatvong, Interior Minister Sar Kheng noted that managing Cambodia’s capital is by no means an easy task. While critics of [former Phnom Penh governor] Mr. [Kep] Chuktema note his failure ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/phnom-penh-governor-leaves-behind-mixed-legacy-22697/
As Phnom Penh Grows, So Does Its Sewage Problem
Since 1998, Phnom Penh’s population has doubled to more than 2 million. High-rise buildings have popped up in the city’s center and housing developments have been hastily erected. Yet the city’s antiquated, decades-old drainage system has undergone little improvement in that time and experts say the ...
US Passes Bill to Suspend Some Aid to Cambodia
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a spending bill that would suspend some funding to Cambodia until the government carries out an independent investigation of July’s disputed national election and reforms its electoral system, or until the opposition ends its boycott of parliament. The ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-passes-bill-to-suspend-some-aid-to-cambodia-50778/
Evicted railway families await ADB’s help
In 2011, Oeun Phirun took out a $450 loan from the Asian Development Bank, using half to buy a used motorbike and spending the rest on a small flock of ducks and chickens he hoped to raise. His family and about 1,000 others have been evicted ...
Zsombor Peter and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/evicted-railway-families-await-adbs-help-56128/
Illegal wood exports to China tripled in 2013
Cambodia’s exports of protected rosewood and other high-value timber to China more than tripled last year, according to U.N. figures cited in a new report that blames lax law enforcement across the Mekong region and skyrocketing demand in China for pushing some species to the ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/illegal-wood-exports-to-china-tripled-in-2013-58593/
Long-overdue Consolidation of the Kingdom’s Mobile Telecoms Market May Have Operators Feeling Hopeful, but Challenges Remain
After years of immersion in a vicious price war, battle weary and capital-haemorrhaging [sic] mobile operators in Cambodia’s oversaturated telecommunications sector may finally have reason to breathe a sigh of relief; 2013 might be cited as the year the tide turned. Tarred by legal threats, ...
Contractor Says Senior Official Approved Siem Reap Land Swap
The head of a construction firm that was involved in a massive land swap with Siem Reap’s provincial government in 2010 defended the deal on Friday saying orders for the move of government offices and civil servants—which is now being reversed—came directly from the national ...
Dene-Hern Chen and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/contractor-says-senior-official-approved-siem-reap-land-swap-41909/
After Land Swap, Siem Reap Government Moves Again
Siem Reap’s provincial government apparatus, which in 2010 was relocated to a remote site 16 km outside of the city as part of an extensive and hugely controversial swap of government land and buildings, is moving back to its old home in the tourist city’s ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/top/after-land-swap-siem-reap-government-moves-again-41819/
Chaotic Scene as Gun Seized During Teachers’ Rally
A small gathering to mark World Teachers’ Day at Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park briefly descended into chaos Sunday when a crowd of rally-goers wrested a concealed gun from a man working for the Ministry of Information after he forced his way to the front of ...
Mech Dara and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chaotic-scene-as-gun%E2%80%88seized-during-teachers-rally-44997/
After Reform Promise, a Return to Statecraft as Usual
In an epic, six-hour address in September, Prime Minister Hun Sen apologized for the government’s many “problems” and promised a more reformist government over the next five years of his rule. Targeting corruption, deforestation and the lack of transparency across government sectors, the prime minister made ...
Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-reform-promise-a-return-to-statecraft-as-usual-48602/
In Cambodia, Lost Retreats Once Again Found
Kep province – On a sunny weekday in Kep, a seaside village about halfway along Cambodia’s coast, the crab market was heaving. Women in straw hats and rubber boots stood knee deep in the surf shouting out prices, periodically darting into the sea to pull writhing ...
After CPP Reshuffle, Sok An’s Fiefdom Trimmed
Deputy Prime Minister Sok An has a stunning portfolio of positions within the CPP government. On Monday, CPP lawmakers once again appointed Mr. An as the Cabinet Minister for Prime Minister Hun Sen. He is also the chairman of the state-controlled Cambodian National Petroleum Authority and ...
Kuch Naren and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/after-cpp-reshuffle-sok-ans-fiefdom-trimmed-43665/
Government Blames Child Flood Deaths on ‘Careless’ Mothers
The first vice president of the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) on Monday blamed some of the deaths in this year’s floods on “careless” mothers. “Maybe the mothers are careless, maybe they don’t pay much attention to their children, so they drown,” NCDM First Vice ...
Zsombor Peter and Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-blames-child-flood-deaths-on-careless-mothers-45666/
Ratanakkiri Temple Now in Land Concession
Like most millennium-old structures discovered in the forests of Cambodia, the locals had known all along about this one. Jarai minority villagers in this remote spot in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district not only knew about it, but they revered the red-brick temple, using it as a ...
Kuch Naren and Michelle Vachon
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ratanakkiri-temple-now-in-land-concession-47779/
Two Decades On, Constitution Fails to Live Up to Promises
The atmosphere in Phnom Penh 20 years ago today was one of jubilation and optimism as then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk signed Cambodia’s new Constitution into law and reclaimed the throne as King. The promulgation of the Constitution—which marked the end of the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia’s ...
Alex Willemyns and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/two-decades-on-constitution-fails-to-live-up-to-promises-43035/
Cambodia Delays US Military Aid
Cambodia postponed U.S.-backed military assistance programs immediately after the July 28 national election, officials of both countries confirmed Tuesday, in a move that analysts said reflects a strain in relations after years of strengthening military ties. The U.S. has in recent years expanded training and other ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-delays-us-military-assistance-39509/
EU Under Fire for Policy Linked to Land Grabbing in Cambodia
KAMPONG SPEU PROVINCE— Three years ago, Pao had a farm and a charcoal stove near a stream in a community called Omlaing in western Cambodia. The farm gave her rice, charcoal sales gave her extra income and the nearby forest provided edible and medicinal plants. Pao ...
The Irrawaddy News Magazine Staff
http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/44202
Ecosystems in the Greater Mekong: past trends, current status, possible futures
The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS: Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Yunnan and Guangxi in China) is undergoing unprecedented changes. Many of these are positive, reflecting political stabilization and economic growth following decades of poverty and conflict. But the rate and type of development is ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=ZjY4MTUzZGZkNmQ
Government confirms foreigners will need work permits for long-term visas
// // // // An Immigration Department official yesterday confirmed that foreigners requesting a long-term extension of their business visas would need to produce a work permit, with implementation of the rule starting September 4. ...
Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/government-confirms-foreigners-will-need-work-permits-long-term-visas