Energy
Electricity production
Cambodia, US share concerns over Lao dam
Following a meeting with a visiting U.S. diplomat on Wednesday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary of State Ouch Borith said the U.S. shares Cambodia’s concerns about a controversial hydropower dam Laos is planning to build on the Mekong River. Cambodia and Vietnam both fear that the ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-us-share-concerns-over-lao-dam-67238/
City hits brakes on illegal gas
The Phnom Penh government is planning to take action against illegal petrol stations around the city, and has counted 205 of them so far. Chreang Sophan, Phnom Penh deputy governor, said at the opening of a Total station in Tuol Kork district on Monday that the ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/city-hits-brakes-illegal-gas
Dam ‘redesign’ a mystery
Amid a lawsuit and a chorus of dissent, developers of the first lower Mekong mainstream hydropower project, the massive Xayaburi dam, have quietly submitted a long-anticipated, multimillion-dollar redesign plan, the Post has learned. What exactly has been changed about the 1,260-megawatt dam, which environmentalists contend will ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dam-%E2%80%98redesign%E2%80%99-mystery
Metfone eyes sites in Areng
In what could be the latest sign that authorities are pushing ahead with the Areng Valley hydropower dam, Vietnam Military Telecommunications Group has sent engineers into the valley in Koh Kong province to scout for locations where its local subsidiary, Metfone, could build mobile phone ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/metfone-eyes-sites-areng
U.S. renewable energy developer eyes investment opportunity in Cambodia
The Willowbrook Company, a New York-based renewable energy development company, is seeking support from Cambodia to build a 250-megawatt solar power plant, the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Friday. Edward J.Sappin, visiting chief executive officer of the Willowbrook Company, urged the support from ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2014-08/22/c_133576584.htm
No protest permission needed: CCHR
A prominent rights group on Monday wrote to Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, calling on him to remind ministries and local authorities that demonstrators do not require their permission to hold public gatherings. ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/no-protest-permission-needed-cchr
Laos halts construction project of controversial Don Sahong hydropower dam: envoy
Laos has suspended the construction project of controversial 260-megawatt Don Sahong hydropower dam on the lower Mekong River following requests from other countries, newly-designated Laos ambassador to Cambodia Prasith Sayasith said Tuesday. ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140819/laos-halts-construction-project-controversial-don-sahong-hyd
City Hall blocks bike ride against hydro-project
Phnom Penh security forces on Sunday blocked activists from riding their bicycles around the city to promote their campaign against the pending construction of a hydropower dam in Koh Kong province, claiming the organizers failed to ask City Hall for permission. The NGO Mother Nature has ...
Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-hall-blocks-bike-ride-against-koh-kong-hydro-project-66695/
6th Chinese-built hydropower dam in Cambodia starts operation
The sixth Chinese-built hydropower plant, located in the Koh Kong province of southwestern Cambodia, has begun producing electricity after more than four years of construction, the China National Heavy Machinery Corporation (CHMC) said in a statement on Thursday. CHMC started to develop the 246-megawatt Tatay River Hydropower Plant in 2010. The dam comprises three generators, each capable of producing 82 megawatts, the statement said. ...
People's Daily Online News Staff
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/n/2014/0814/c90777-8769756.html
Singapore's KrisEnergy buys out Chevron in Cambodian oil block
Singapore-based upstream oil and gas firm KrisEnergy Ltd said on Monday it has agreed a $65 million deal to buy out Chevron Corp’s interest in an offshore oil block in Cambodia and take over as the block’s operator. KrisEnergy said in a statement it plans to ...
Rigzone News Staff
https://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/134474/Singapores_KrisEnergy_Buys_Out_Chevron_In_Cambodian_Oil_Block
Mekong hydropower could conflict with other benefits: Kerry
US Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday that hydropower development along the Mekong River could conflict with other benefits. “You have this tension between the purposes, unless they’re approached thoughtfully and correctly,” he told foreign ministers from the Lower Mekong Initiative gathered in Nay Pyi ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=ZDBkZDVhOTQxOTA
Croc release at dam site planned
A conservation group may release 20 baby Siamese crocodiles into the Areng Valley amid an ongoing stand-off between villagers and a Chinese firm over the construction of a controversial hydropower dam in Koh Kong province. Tuy Serey Vathana, country directory at Fauna and Flora International, said ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/croc-release-dam-site-planned
Cambodia’s hydroelectric question: China power and the environment
Discussion about hydroelectric power plants in Cambodia tends to focus on two aspects, both negative. One is an overdependence on Chinese investment, and the other is a relatively disproportionate focus on the environmental impacts of hydroelectric power. Chinese Influence Most hydroelectric power plants in Cambodia are associated ...
Sim Vireak
http://thediplomat.com/2014/07/cambodias-hydroelectric-question-china-power-and-the-environment/
‘A threat to Cambodia’s sacred forests’
In southwest Cambodia, at the foot of the Cardamom Mountains, is a single dirt road that meanders through the heart of the pristine Areng valley. Ten miles down this road, villagers have set up an encampment to stop a hydroelectric dam project that they fear ...
New York Times News Staff
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/opinion/a-threat-to-cambodias-sacred-forests.html
Cambodia is perfectly positioned to become a solar powerhouse
Phnom Penh’s first solar-powered building looks for all the world like a cube of colored Lego blocks dropped in a factory lot on the city’s industrial outskirts. Covered in some 1,350 solar panels — including large panes of multi-colored solar glass — the three-story building ...
Sarah Goodyear
http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/water-war-weapon-syria-cities
Officials ‘take cut’ of dam compensation
Officials involved in negotiating compensation offers between the developers of the Lower Sesan II dam and affected villagers have kept a portion of the money paid out to 12 families for themselves, according to an official. Duong Pov, Stung Treng provincial administration director, claimed that a ...
Phak Seangly and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officials-%E2%80%98take-cut%E2%80%99-dam-compensation
Delay Sesan dam: villagers
Villagers who will be displaced if the controversial Lower Sesan II dam is built called on the developers yesterday to postpone construction for five years, allowing time for a comprehensive resettlement scheme to be devised. But a government official dismissed their request as “beyond the pale”, ...
Phak Seangly and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/delay-sesan-dam-villagers
Laos will consult with neighbors over dam
The Lao government has agreed to a lengthy public consultation process with its neighbors before building a controversial hydropower dam on the Mekong River, within 2 km of the Cambodian border, according to the environmental group WWF. Laos announced the 256-MW Don Sahong dam last year ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/laos-will-consult-with-neighbors-over-dam-62740/
Laos agrees to more extensive consultation for dam on border with Cambodia
The Lao government said yesterday that it would have the controversial Don Sahong dam undergo a formal process of prior consultation – a decision that will probably delay the project further. “The government has already demonstrated that it is committed to developing the Don Sahong project ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YjI5ZmRlNDg3Y2M
Evictees abandon new land
About half the Koh Kong province villagers relocated to make way for a Union Development Group resort project have abandoned the new homes provided for them, citing poor conditions and an inconvenient location, a village representative said yesterday. More than 1,000 families living in the province’s ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/evictees-abandon-new-land
Thai court agrees to hear lawsuit over controversial Xayaburi dam in Laos
A top court in Thailand agreed on Tuesday to hear a lawsuit brought by villagers against the country’s decision to purchase power from the planned Xayaburi mega dam in neighboring Laos, which green groups say could threaten the region’s environment and food security. Overruling a lower ...
Parameswaran Ponnudurai
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/lawsuit-06242014170128.html
Officials show Areng families relocation plan
Hundreds of families due to be displaced by the planned 108-MW Stung Chhay Areng dam were called to a meeting Tuesday with provincial authorities, who presented a plan for relocation and then distributed gifts of shrimp paste and MSG. Heng Samnang, a staffer for local NGO ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officials-show-areng-families-relocation-plan-distribute-food-62348/
Army creates new platoon in Areng Valley
The army created a new platoon on Monday to guard an area near the Areng Valley in Koh Kong province, where hundreds of ethnic minority residents have fiercely resisted plans by a Chinese company to build a hydropower dam that would flood their ancestral lands. The ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/army-creates-new-platoon-in-areng-valley-62198/
Parliament to summon 3 ministers for questioning
The National Assembly plans to summon three ministers for questioning over compensation to families who will be displaced or harmed by development projects, officials from the National Assembly said Sunday. Cheam Yeap, a senior CPP lawmaker, said the National Assembly would write to Environment Minister Say ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/parliament-to-summon-3-ministers-for-questioning-62093/