Cambodia seeing a solar surge as prices drop
Cambodia is lighting up with solar power as international politics gluts the world market with inexpensive equipment options, according to industry insiders. The lowering or complete end of subsidies for US, European and Australian firms, along with China’s backing of the renewable energy sector, has seen ...
As Case Delayed, Former Maid Trainee Suffers
When Heng Hak escaped from Phnom Penh maid recruitment center in March 2011, falling several stories in the process, she unwittingly became part of a groundswell-one in a series of mounting cases highlighting severe mismanagment of recruitment agencies, and the abuses incurred by both trainees ...
Families Seek Missing Relatives in Malaysia
Ten months after the government suspended sending Cambodian women to work as maids in Malaysia, following numerous reports of abuse by employers and recruitment companies, families say they have completely lost contact with their loved ones who continue to work in Malaysian households. Local rights group Adhoc has recorded ...
One Garment Worker Killed, 24 Injured in Truck Accident
A female garment worker died and 24 other workers were injured when the truck in which they were traveling careened into a pond in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district Wednesday morning, police said. More than 30 garment workers were on board a small, open-backed truck in Prek ...
Garment Workers Continue Tax Deductions Protest
About 600 garment workers of the Top Form factory in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district continued protesting yesterday against new income tax deductions from their pay outside the factory after police blocked them from marching on National Road 5. Workers have been protesting since Friday against ...
Boeng Kak Arrest Not Linked to Evictions, Says Local Man
The Phnom Penh man who filed a complaint against a woman deeply involved in the Boeng Kak community’s anti-eviction protests called a press conference on Friday to insist that his dispute with the woman, which led to her arrest last week, was a personal matter ...
Protesters Demand Anti-Eviction Activists' Release
Fifty Boeng Kak and Borei Keila residents rallied outside the Ministry of Justice yesterday and submitted a petition demanding the release of two anti-eviction activists they say have been jailed on trumped-up charges. Four representatives from the two groups were allowed to enter the ministry yesterday, ...
Number of Airport Passengers Soars in 2012
The number of passengers arriving at Cambodia’s two main airports in the first eight months of the year increased 17.7 percent to more than 1.3 million people, compared to about 1.1 million people during the same period last year, figures released by Cambodian Airports show. Between ...
WHO Urges Higher Taxes On Tobacco
The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday urged Cambodia to increase taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products-currently the lowest in the world-in order to raise revenue and deter smokers. Ayda Yurekli, coordinator of the WHO’s tobacco control economics unit, said during a workshop in Phnom Penh ...
Investigation delays final Dara hearing
The Phnom Penh Court of Appeal yesterday postponed the final hearing of disgraced anti-drug czar Moek Dara, Chea Leng and Morn Doeun until next month, citing a need for more time in light of last-minute investigations by the Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court, a court official ...
Don't Envy the Chinese, Gov't Tells Europe
The commerce minister yesterday urged European businesspeople in Phnom Penh to invest more in Cambodia and not to envy the Chinese firms now dominating the foreign investment scene. Speaking at the gathering of the European Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, Minister of Trade and Commerce Cham ...
Telecommunications Regulatory Body Launched
With a proposed telecommunications law yet to be approved, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications yesterday launched the Telcom Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) to handle disputes between mobile phone companies and Internet providers, although officials admitted that the body will have limited powers. .. But unless ...
Chinese language study surging in Cambodia
As China has risen to become the world’s second-largest economy and cemented close political and economic ties with the Kingdom, many people see advantages in speaking the language of their powerful northern benefactor. From 1994 to 2011, data from the Council for the Development of Cambodia show ...
Army Truck Carrying Illegal Timber Kills Family
A family of three, including an 18-year old girl, died when the driver of a military truck carrying illegally cut wood slammed into their motorbike in Siem Reap province, officials said yesterday. The family died at the scene while the occupants of the military truck, seen ...
NGOs Discuss Reforms Ahead of Donor Meeting
At a meeting in Phnom enh to prepare for today’s high-level donor Government-Development Partner CoordinAting Committee (GDCC) forum, dozens of mostly local NGOs agreed on their own list of broad reform suggestions for the government. But land disputes took center stage. Today’s GDCC meeting, which the ...
Transport costs remain high
Cambodia’s transport costs remain high compared with those in neighbouring countries, according to a 10-container shipment comparison conducted between Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam by a Korean-owned company, Pan Continental Freight (PCF). The comparison found Cambodia’s free on board (FOB) costs were US$35 a tonne, whereas Thailand ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092758948/Business/transport-costs-remain-high.html
Cambodia's highly competitive mobile phone industry poised for change
The nation is awash with SIM cards, and that is indicative of an industry that, as most observers see it, is simply overcrowded. But [mobile phone] operators, despite their special promotions and a young population in love with phones, are finding themselves squeezed as margins ...
Slowdown in garment exports from Cambodia
The slump in global markets has depressed demand for Cambodian products, leading to reduced growth forecasts by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for 2012 and 2013. “Falling global demand, especially in Europe and the US, means that the industry sector will grow at a slower pace ...
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/apparel-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=116497
Investment needed to reach rice goal: experts
More investment is needed as well as additional assistance for farmers if the government wants to meet its export goal of 1 million tons of rice a year by 2015, according to experts at a recent rice sector meeting in Phnom Penh. Participants said rice millers would need substantial access ...
Draft Law for Lower Sesan Dam Details Plans for Compensation
A draft law on the financing of a controversial dam project in Stung Treng province obtained yesterday shows that about $38 million will be spent on the resettlement of almost 800 families. This marks a significant decrease from the more than 1,000 families the companies ...