National government

A slew of new health and maternity benefits for workers took effect at the stroke of midnight yesterday in a dramatic expansion of the country’s social security framework, even as labour advocates and business experts raised concerns about cost and quality. ...

Villagers in Preah Vihear province locked in land disputes with five economic land concessions belonging to sugar cane firms have urged provincial authorities to resolve their conflicts. Kroeun Vong, a villager representative in Chey Sen district, said ministry officials solved some cases by giving one hectare ...

In 2017, according to a ministry report, the cadastral survey commission solved 85 land dispute cases for 326 families, which amounted to 44.5 hectares. It found 37 cases to have been wrongly authorized and withdrew another 11 complaints. The report added that from the start of ...

The Interior Ministry’s department of fire control officials said yesterday that fires killed 22 and injured 12 in 2017. ...

The government has decided to transfer nearly 100 hectares of land on Koh Sdach island in Koh Kong province’s Kiri Sakor district to local residents, who were concerned they would be forced to relocate by development companies. ...

Deputy Prime Minister Bin Chhin oversaw a meeting on illegal logging in the northeast region of Cambodia, reportedly branding the Kingdom’s anti-logging crackdown a “success” despite evidence to the contrary. ...

A Chinese company inked a deal worth $20 million yesterday with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to repair 107 kilometres of roads in the kingdom. ...

The government and international funders have committed a further $66 million to a project to increase small farmers’ productivity, after yesterday claiming success in the program’s initial seven-year period. ...

The Commerce Ministry yesterday announced a 19 percent surge in exports for the year and a quadrupling of revenue collected from import licence fees, but would not provide analogous figures for total imports or explain what could be driving the increases. According to the ministry’s annual ...

During a cabinet meeting on Friday, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced a “vision” to shrink the country’s cabinet by excluding secretaries and undersecretaries of state from the body, and to be given the right to bypass the National Assembly by appointing them directly, according to ...

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) has decided to slash transaction fees on derivative trading, a move the SECC claims will help spur future trades. ...

Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said royalist party Funcinpec will not be investigated for requesting funds from China, despite an article in the Law on Political Parties banning parties from receiving financial support from foreign governments and institutions. ...

Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) boss Om Yentieng has said the Kingdom’s whistleblower and witness protection draft law was nearly complete, while at the same time lashing out at Transparency International Cambodia for not assisting in the process, something the group flatly denied. ...

Claims the military is involved in systematically clearing forest in Oddar Meanchey province in an area meant to be protected by a carbon credit scheme involving Virgin Atlantic have prompted the UK-based airline to launch an investigation into the program. ...

Officials from the Ministry of Mines and Energy have announced a new project that will provide a boost to the local renewable energy sector by electrifying three key provinces with the use of small-scale solar and wind power devices. ...

New Thai regulations imposing stiff punishments on undocumented migrants, their brokers and their employers set to come into force on January 1 will likely be delayed by three to six months, according to Cambodian Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng. ...

The Phnom Penh governor said he would crack down on pharmacies who do not follow the laws of the Health Ministry. Governor Khuong Sreng vowed to ban practices such as the selling of medication without a license and the dissemination of illegal medications, and to search ...

The Agriculture Ministry is set to sign a mango export investment deal with a Chinese firm worth up to $50 million, the second such deal in the country, Agriculture Minister Veng Sokhon said yesterday. ...

The government is planning to build a massive economic zone in Preah Sihanouk province to accommodate up to 10,000 factories similar to Thailand’s eastern economic corridor. ...

An ambitous 10-year plan to boost the country’s industrial development is “90 percent” on track and has earned the approval of Prime Minister Hun Sen, government representatives said yesterday.​ ...

All provinces, especially those along the border with Vietnam, will be affected by heavy rain when Typhoon Tembin hits next week. The Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology announced that Tembin appeared in the Pacific Ocean yesterday and is currently in the Philippines. ...

Malaysian-owned power infrastructure provider Pestech (Cambodia) Ltd has won a $26 million job to start on a new electricity project in Cambodia that will see Oddar Meanchey province connected to the national power grid, according to a filing on the Malaysian stock exchange.​ ​ ...

The new railway line from the Phnom Penh train station to the airport will be launched before the Khmer New Year in April, according to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. ...

Jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha’s lawyers yesterday boycotted the questioning of their client on “treason” charges at Trapaing Phlong Prison to protest the judge’s decision not to question him at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.​ ...