Widely different interpretations of the government’s land policy were voiced at a conference on Land Security and Housing Rights on Thursday in Phnom Penh, with civil servants defending mass relocations, while rural evictees spoke of being forced into poverty due to loss of their land. ...

After closing the last of its 19 petrol stations in Cambodia in April 2010, Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is again eyeing the country’s oil and gas (O&G) sector. This will see Chevron and its partners developing the country’s first offshore oil field this year. According to ...

Cambodia’s parliament on Friday approved a law providing financial guarantees for the developers of a planned hydropower dam on a Mekong River tributary, despite opposition from civil society groups seeking to delay the project. Villagers campaigning against the Lower Sesan 2 dam in northeastern Cambodia’s Stung ...

Cambodia’s government, facing growing protests by villagers and warnings about disappearing wilderness, suspended the granting of land to domestic and foreign companies on Monday in a move to curb forced evictions and illegal logging. Rights groups in the impoverished but resource-rich Southeast Asian country said the ...

When it became the first—and still the only—company to list on Cambodia’s stock market on April 18, the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority saw its share price shoot up some 50 percent on its first day of trading before beginning two weeks of steady decline. Since ...

The privatization of state-owned land continued last month with several large government- owned plots in Phnom Penh transferred to state-private property, according to a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen. According to the document signed May 24, the state-owned properties, measuring 40,998 square meters in ...

Cambodian aviation continues its ascent with the Oct. 1 launch of Singaporean low-cost carrier Tiger Airway’s daily direct service to Phnom Penh, ongoing airport expansions and the announcement of several new airport projects. Currently, there are more than 20 international airlines offering service to Cambodia for a ...

China’s demand for natural resources is being felt in a big way in Cambodia. Illegal logging and economic land concessions are threatening Cambodia’s dwindling forests, which now echo the sound of chainsaws. Prey Lang forest — an eight-hour journey north and east of the capital, Phnom Penh ...

Just days ahead of Sunday’s commune elections, Prime Minister Hun Sen again broke his pledge to remain silent during his party’s campaign period and sought to ease the concerns of communities whose livelihoods have been threatened by land disputes. Speaking to villagers through a mobile telephone, ...

The government on Friday denied it had violated a moratorium on granting new land concessions when Prime Minister Hun Sen signed off on more than 20,000 hectares of land to three rubber companies 11 days after the ban was announced on May 7. According to documents ...

Soldiers should not have been deployed in support of a warrant to arrest land dispute protesters in Kratie province in May—an operation that led to the killing of a 14-year-old girl by armed forces, a Japanese human rights group said in a new report. The report ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen made a bold pledge to the hundreds of thousands of Cambodian villagers fighting companies for their homes yesterday, ordering that in every economic land concession across the country, space must be provided for those they would displace. But last month’s royal book ...

Near the river in Phnom Penh and next to Diamond Island, there’s a huge, bunker-like building that is almost always a beehive of activity. Inside, there are people enjoying an evening concert or strolling around studying the decor, including large stone faces of the Buddha. Others, however, are occupied with more mundane matters-placing ...

Adding to a growing body of research into the flaws of Cambodia’s $142 million railway rehabilitation project, a report published yesterday said soaring debt levels are crippling families forcibly relocated by the project. In the report by land rights organization Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), researchers tracked ...

The homes of nearly 200 families living in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district were demolished yesterday and Monday after officials accused the residents of being involved in a secessionist plot, local officials and villagers said. District governor Chhe Chhiv said that authorities had demolished 191 homes ...

The Cambodian governemnt is lobbying the tourism sector to focus more on using local foods, which it says could generate millions of dollars in revenue a year. But hotels and restaurants say quality standards and supplies of local products are often not adequate and businesses ...

Three ethnic Bunong communities in Mondolkiri province may soon receive long-awaited collective property titles, which would bring to six the total number of communal land titles granted to the country’s indigenous people since the Land Law was created in 2011. And while the possible issuing of the three ...

The effects of the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 on the Cambodian economy showed how perilous having a narrow economic base can be. Since the Kingdom’s economy is dependent on a few “pillars”-garments, construction, tourism and agriculture-downturns in any of those sectors can ...

Despite growing exports, freight companies say profits are being hit because most firms still use old, inefficient trucks and are often forced to pay custom officials informal fees at border checkpoints and ports. Transportation costs in Cambodia are already some of the highest in the region, ...

A single visa for Thailand and Cambodia is ready for launch 27 December at all of the countries’ consulates and embassies. It is a test phase of a wider project called ACMECS Single Visa (Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy) involving Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and ...