Development policy and administration

Due to rising water level in Thailand’s reservoirs caused by heavy rainfall, the Thai government announced the opening of a dam in Sa Kaeo province, located about 20 km from the Cambodian border. This decision will potentially affect 10,000 Cambodian families in Poipet, Serei Sophorn ...

Thai authorities yesterday opened a dam near the Cambodian border, a move that could worsen flooding and affect thousands of people in Banteay Meanchey province, according to Cambodian officials. Mr. Vanda [vice president of the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM)] said the excess water ...

Disputed figures surround the flood death toll in Banteay Meanchey province. Yesterday, Banteay Mean­chey city hall spokesman Keo Ratanak rejected reports that more than 10 people had drowned in the province as a result of the flooding, saying: “The exact number is seven.” But according to numbers ...

Poor education and a lack of skills are still major challenges for Cambodian women and a recent meeting in Phnom Penh with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the United Nations Development Program set out to validate an action plan on women’s economic empowerment that ...

A total of 11 people have now died due to flooding in the country since mid-September, while the worst affected area, Banteay Meanchey province, continued to suffer amid torrential rain on Thursday night, government officials said on Friday. ...

More than half of Cambodians living in rural areas still do not have access to treated water, about 200 people heard yesterday at a forum at the Phnom Penh Hotel. The event was sponsored by WaterSHED, an NGO funded by USAID’s Regional Development Mission-Asia and the Stone Family Foundation. According ...

Cambodia is trying to attract foreign investors with manufacturing bases in neighbouring countries, with promises their factories would be safer from flooding. The Phnom Penh Post reported that Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh is appealing to foreign investors with production bases in neighbouring countries, particularly Thailand, to ...

Cambodia’s Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said foreign investors with production bases in Thailand ought to consider Cambodia for future expansion because of the Kingdom’s greater resistance to floods. Speaking at Phnom Penh Honda’s 20th anniversary yesterday, the Commerce minister said that while Cambodia faces floods each ...

The World Bank urged the Cambodian government Wednesday to accelerate reforms while taking a participatory approach to its National Strategic Development Plan. Speaking at a meeting of the Development Partner Coordination Committee, World Bank Country Director Annette Dixon congratulated the government on its current development plan ...

Cambodia is expected to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) in poverty reduction two years earlier than the UN-imposed target, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Friday. According to the UN MDG, Cambodia is set the target to reduce poverty rate to 19.4 percent by 2015, meaning ...

 A Millennium Development Goal Acceleration Framework action plan presented yesterday by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) seeks to address Panha’s and other women’s lagging economic opportunities in Cambodia. The plan will help Cambodia achieve targeted Millenium Development Goals by 2015. Though no date of ...

Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) , will make her first official visit to Cambodia from Aug. 21-24 to further enhance ties between the UN and Cambodia. The visit ...

Drought has been hitting 11 out of the 24 cities and provinces in Cambodia and affecting tens of thousands of hectares of rice seedlings, Keo Vy, spokesman and chief of the Cabinet of the National Committee for Disaster Management, said Thursday The drought-hit provinces are Kampong ...

A lack of economic diversity, faith in the banking sector and slow growth in vocational training and education topped the list of concerns among economists and investors yesterday at a meeting organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government. According to data released ...

More than 16,000 hectares of rice paddies are currently being affected by drought across the country, officials said yesterday. “There wasn’t enough rain for the rice this year, ” said Nhep Srorn, director of Takeo province’s agriculture department. Pich Sokhin, governor of Oddar Meanchey province, said ...

Concerns that a drought may soon grip some of Cambodia’s provinces intensified after the government allocated thousands of cubic metres of water to more than 20,000 hectares of dried rice paddies in a mission to save valuable rice crops last weekend. Although the rainy season has cloaked ...

South Korea and Cambodia have agreed to share military supplies in peacekeeping and rescue operations as part of efforts to expand military ties between the two sides, the defense ministry here said Tuesday. Lee Seon-chul, the head of the South Korean defense ministry’s logistics managment bureau, ...

Large dump trucks with beds full of rusted, twisted metal and aluminium canss rolled in, one after another, to unload their cargo at Phnom Penh’s largest scrap yard in Dangkao district. “All the metal must be exported because there are no recycling factories here [in Cambodia],” ...

When 41-year-old Pheng Seng’s brick-making business was ravaged by flood in Kratie province a year ago, he lost about US$5,000. Kratie town also flooded this time a year ago. It was so bad that speedboats were seen zipping through the streets past submerged motorcycles with ...

Cambodian farmers often turn to pesticides when trying to stop insects from destroying crops, but the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (Cedac) has come up with a better idea: frogs. “Frogs are important to protect rice plants from damage by insects, especially during ...

After failing to receive compensation from the airline, relatives of the 13 South Korean nationals who died in the 2007 PMT Air flight U4 241 crash have been reimbursed for their loss by the travel agency that issued the tickets, a law firm said yesterday. According ...

In February, Son Chhay wrote to the premier urging him to investigate illegal logging outside the legal clearing area slated for the Stung Tatai dam reservoir in Koh Kong province and the environmental destruction that would be wrought by the Stung Cheay Areng dam.  In a ...

Two consecutive months of drought have severely damaged thousands of hectares of rice fields in Krokor district and neighboring areas in Pursat province. ...

Despite heavy rains in parts of the country, a month-long drought has destroyed over 10,000 hectares of rice seedlings in other areas, agriculture officials said yesterday. Battambang province was the hardest hit, with 4,640 hectares of seedlings destroyed by the drought and another 10,000 hectares affected. In ...