Infrastructure

Representatives of a massive hydropower dam project in Stung Treng province’s Sesan district approached local authorities late last month informing them that the government had granted the company permission to clear 36,000 hec­tares of land for a reservoir, officials said on Sunday. The 400-megawatt Lower Se­san ...

The government has asked Australia to provide more funding to help complete the rehabilitation of the dilapidated railway line between Phnom Penh and the Thai border, a spokesman said yesterday. Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong met with Lieutenant General John Sanderson, former chief of the Australian ...

Cambodia spent more than $1.6 billion importing fuel oil and petrol last year, a figure 14.3 per cent higher than for 2011, the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday. The money spent on importing 1.6 million tonnes of petrol and fuel oil – 100,000 tonnes more than ...

Experts are recommending that a proposed dam on the Sesan River in northeast Cambodia be equipped with earthquake protection measures, after discovering a quake occurred in the area some 30 years ago. The proposed Lower Sesan II dam would be situated on a site in Stung ...

The government yesterday asked the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to continue to help Cambodia’s troubled railway rehabilitation project, which is in desperate need of more funding in order to complete the network’s northern line. Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong met with the ADB’s recently appointed country ...

Despite the inaugural train traveling between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville by a new rail link a month ago, no goods have yet been transported between the capital and the country’s largest port. Toll Royal Railways, a joint venture between Australia’s Toll Group and local conglomerate Royal ...

Thousands of villagers who will lose their land to the construction of the Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province later this year have not been told of the government’s plans for their resettlement and compensation, a new study released yesterday shows. Through interviews with ...

Connectivity is crucial to the process of building the Asean Community, and ties in with the effort to market the region as a single tourist destination, the grouping’s chief said. “Asean is in the process of building the Asean Community, and in the process of building ...

The locally based Global Media Group is bringing the latest LED lighting technology to the Cambodian market in an effort to reduce people’s electricity bills. GMG assistant chief executive Bun Sim said the company would use all its know-how, as well as experts from South Korea, ...

Worldwide, office demand stemmed from the automotive, high-tech and energy industries. The latter is evident in Cambodia, where drilling off the coast near Sihanoukville has helped to increase office demand. Thus, companies such as Total and Chevron are large office occupiers, and new Japanese oil ...

Work will start this year on a 400km railway line and a new seaport in Cambodia, with most of the funding coming from Chinese sources. Cambodia Iron and Steel Mining Industry Group (CISMIG) and China Railway Major Bridge Engineering have signed an agreement to jointly invest ...

A Chinese conglomerate headed by an adviser to Senate President Chea Sim plans to begin extracting gold and copper in Siem Reap province in two months, the firm’s chairman said yesterday. Khmer Holding, a group of companies that claims vast mineral interests in Cambodia, opened an ...

After closing the last of its 19 petrol stations in Cambodia in April 2010, Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is again eyeing the country’s oil and gas (O&G) sector. This will see Chevron and its partners developing the country’s first offshore oil field this year. According to ...

Vietnam urged Laos to halt construction of a $3.5 billion hydropower dam pending further study, environmental activists said on Friday after a meeting of the Mekong River Commission. The activists said Cambodia, also downriver from the Xayaburi dam, accused Laos during heated discussions on Wednesday and ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has arrested two employees of a local company linked to a British biofuel firm currently under investigation by the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), an official said Friday. ACU President Om Yentieng said that International Green Energy (IGE) director Oum Sam­nang, and ...

Khmer Resources Investment, which is backed by the Cambodian government, aims to list in Hong Kong within two years, chairman Cao Yunde said. “We intend to leverage the capital market of Hong Kong to finance our growth through a public listing so as to maximise the ...

Laos yesterday defended its decision to begin building the Xayaburi dam amid criticism from Cambodia on a lively final day of the Mekong River Commission’s annual council meeting in Luang Prabang, Laos. According to separate sources who attended, Cambodia spoke out against Laos for “misinterpreting” the ...

Regional conservationists criticised the Mekong River Commission (MRC) yesterday for leaving the controversial Xayaburi Dam off its agenda at this week’s annual ministerial meeting in Luang Prabang, Laos. Laotian authorities said they would confirm their decision to go ahead with the hydropower project in the mainstream ...

China has become Cambodia’s biggest investor, putting some $8.8 billion into the country over nearly two decades, according to online data from the government’s lead investment agency. Those investment numbers, from the Council for the Development of Cambodia, from 1994 to 2011, do not take into ...

When ministers from the four member countries of the Mekong River Commission and donors meet in Luang Prabang, Laos this week, the future role of the agency will be on the table. Questions about the effectiveness of the Mekong River Commission, set up in 1995 to ...

Norwegian energy firm Eltek Valere will file a criminal complaint today against mobile phone operator Mfone over an agreement that was signed last week to shift Mfone’s existing subscribers to MobiTel, according to a lawyer representing Eltek. The decision by the Thai-owned mobile operator Mfone to ...

Energy supplies will be more secure once territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia are resolved, Department of Mineral Fuels director-general Songpob Polchan said on Friday. Mr Songpob said that the sooner Thailand and Cambodia are able to work out their differences, the sooner they can exploit ...

A coalition of NGOs has called on Cambodia’s National Mekong Committee (CNMC) to push for the Xayaburi dam to be added to the agenda of a regional Mekong River meeting next week. Chhith Sam Ath, executive director of NGO Forum on Cambodia, said it was disappointing ...

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) will forgo an opportunity to voice opposition to the Xayaburi dam project – which member state Laos began building in November – when it meets for its annual council meeting next week. Surasak Glahan, communications officer with the MRC secretariat, confirmed ...