Investment policy and regulations
Foreign investors
Borey River Town developer eyes second, $100 million property investment
Following the success of Borey River Town, the investor behind it has announced plans to inject $100 million into developing a new project. General manager Teng Rith says that construction of Borey River Town is now 50 per cent complete, with some 80 per cent of ...
Construction, sales of Casa Meridian to get under way this weekend
The Hong Kong-invested Casa Meridian project plans to launch sales and start construction at the end of this month. Casa Meridian is a skyscraper condominium development on Diamond Island (Koh Pich), which developers there hope will become a modern commercial and residential area of Phnom Penh ...
Siv Meng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/construction-sales-casa-meridian-get-under-way-weekend
Australian firm bets on Bavet
Australian-listed Cell Aquaculture (CAQ) – a onetime a marine technology company – has purchased a casino on the Cambodia-Vietnam border in a bid to generate much-needed revenue after nearing bankruptcy in 2013. On May 26, CAQ announced in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange that ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/australian-firm-bets-bavet
NGOs lobby China, companies over Sesan dam
A group of 15 local and international rights groups Tuesday sent a slew of letters to the Chinese government and companies involved in the Lower Sesan II hydropower dam in Stung Treng province seeking a halt to dam construction due to serious environmental and social ...
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngos-lobby-china-companies-over-sesan-dam-59807/
Northeast primed for colonisation: Rainsy
Cambodia National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy yesterday called on residents in the northeast provinces to defend their land lest the area be turned into a Vietnamese “colony”. Rainsy’s comments were quickly condemned by both the Cambodian and Vietnamese governments. Speaking to hundreds of people in Mondulkiri ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/northeast-primed-colonisation-rainsy
Twenty put end to latest Caltex strike
Petrol station workers who were back on strike on Friday returned to work yesterday as they prepare to file a complaint to the Ministry of Labour against US-owned Caltex over alleged rights abuse. Yoeun Reth, one of 20 Caltex workers striking on Friday, said yesterday that ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/twenty-put-end-latest-caltex-strike
Lawmaker blasts illegal logging in Stung Treng
Two draft laws on judicial reform were easily passed by the single-party National Assembly on Friday but the session was overshadowed by a rookie lawmaker’s attack on lax enforcement of forestry laws in Stung Treng province. On the fourth day of the third plenary session of ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmaker-blasts-illegal-logging-in-s-treng-59494/
Hun Sen attends dinner, presentation in China
Accompanied by his wife, Bun Rany, Prime Minister Hun Sen continued his trip to China on Tuesday evening by attending a dinner reception hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to state news agency Agence Kampuchea Press. Mr. Hun Sen and his delegation of high-level officials ...
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-attends-dinner-presentation-in-china-59355/
Rising union leader behind Caltex station closures
In his fight for workers’ rights, Sar Mora has learned to be stubborn. The union leader behind the closure of Caltex gas stations across Phnom Penh, Mr. Mora’s members remained on strike Sunday despite an apparent agreement on Friday for workers to return to their stations. “We ...
Alex Consiglio and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rising-union-leader-behind-caltex-station-closures-58995/
Oz an example for mining reform
Inspired by Australian mining regulations, the Cambodian government is considering a raft of changes to the mineral resources mining law, including a rethink of the sector’s comparatively high tax rate. Citing discussions held with Western Australia state mining industry representatives last week, Meng Saktheara, secretary of ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/oz-example-mining-reform
Aus called out on railway
Rights groups are calling out the Australian government for being “curiously absent” from discussions about further compensation for thousands of families affected by a railway rehabilitation project that it co-funded with the Asian Development Bank. The bank has borne the brunt of criticism over botched resettlement ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/aus-called-out-railway
As free man, Polonsky plans tourism mecca
Sergei Polonsky, a Russian fugitive and former billionaire real estate magnate who was recently released from prison in Cambodia, has grand plans for a string of islands off the coast of Sihanoukville. Less than a month after the Supreme Court refused to extradite him to Russia ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-free-man-polonsky-plans-tourism-mecca-58726/
Caltex loosing hundreds of thousands of dollars, striking workers say
Chevron’s Caltex gas stations are potentially losing hundreds of thousands of dollars per day in Cambodia, striking employees say. Workers say Caltex, a subsidiary of US-based multinational Chevron, sells between 5,000 to 10,000 liters per station per day, putting its losses between $350,000 to $700,000 ...
Khoun Theara,
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/caltex-loosing-hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars-striking-workers-say/1914429.html
Strike by Cambodian Caltex staff enters 3rd day after wage talks fail
Cambodian workers for the U.S.- owned Caltex petrol stations in Phnom Penh continued their strike for higher wages Wednesday after wage negotiations late Tuesday failed to reach any agreement. Strike leader Sar Mora, president of the Cambodian Food and Service Workers Federation, said some 300 Caltex ...
Xinhuanet News
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-05/14/c_133332966.htm
Sexual abuse among claims against HAGL
Sexual assault and the annihilation of sacred graveyards are among the many claims levelled at Vietnamese Rubber giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) by villagers in Ratanakkiri province, a report by the World Bank’s investment arm reveals. In February, 17 indigenous communities that accused HAGL of ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sexual-abuse-among-claims-against-hagl
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/
Court temporarily halts lease transfer for victory beach
Russian businessmen Nikolai Doroshenko and Sergei Polonsky are locked in a legal dispute over Sihanoukville’s Victory Beach following Mr. Polonsky’s release from prison last month, according to copies of court documents obtained Monday. The Preah Sihanouk provincial court has temporarily prevented Mr. Doroshenko from transferring the ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-temporarily-halts-lease-transfer-for-victory-beach-58598/
Villagers in Svay Rieng angry over planned canal
More than 200 villagers from three communes in Svay Rieng province on Saturday protested against a proposal to build a huge irrigation canal through their land, a local official said Sunday. The planned canal would stretch across Kraol Kor, Svay Yea and Chhoeuteal communes in Svay ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-in-svay-rieng-angry-over-planned-canal-58480/
Kratie families march in Phnom Penh to protest evictions
Nearly 200 villagers from Kratie province gathered in Phnom Penh Monday, hoping to deliver a petition to the Cambodian Senate and other government agencies in protest of a rubber company’s development there. The villagers, from Snoul district, say a Vietnamese rubber company began developing in ...
Suy Heimkhemra,
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/kratie-families-march-in-phnom-penh-to-protest-evictions/1912760.html
Groups want US help in improving transparency in extractive industries
Anti-corruption advocates say they want the US government to help them push for transparency in the extractive industries, as ongoing mining continues to disrupt the lives of many Cambodians. At least 120 companies, most of them Chinese, have obtained mining licenses in the last decade, as ...
Economic expansion of Cambodia; an opportunity for Thai entrepreneurs
The retail marketing business in Cambodia has been growing at approximately 8% a year for the last 10 years and is expected to increase by 7.5% a year from 2014-2018. This economic expansion and greater purchasing power of Cambodians, is seen as presenting great opportunities ...
National News Bureau of Thailand
http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/newsen/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNRPT5705080010001
Parkson to build malls and lease out space
Parkson Holdings Bhd will start building malls and leasing out space to get better margins to deal with pressure on its turnover. The departmental store company will build malls in Malacca and Cambodia, both scheduled to open in 2017. The company is also building a mall ...
Jagdev Singh Sidhu
http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2014/05/07/Parkson-to-build-malls-and-lease-out-space/
Rubber company suspends projects as World Bank investigates
A World Bank-supported rubber company accused of land grabs has suspended some of its projects, as an investigation by the bank continues. The Hoang Anh Gia Lai company, which received support from the bank’s International Finance Corporation, said in a decision following an April 2 ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/rubber-company-suspends-projects-as-world-bank-investigates/1908775.html
Momentum building for GTI
The next stage of Grand Twins International’s (GTI) listing on the Cambodia Stock Exchange – public subscriptions – has had a positive response, according to the head of one of the country’s brokerage firms. Svay Hay, CEO of Acleda Securities, a registered broker for GTI, said ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/momentum-building-gti