Transport and shipping
Transport infrastructure and facilities
Government, ADB Differ on Rail Project
The government claims to have finished nearly a third of the work needed to rehabilitate the long-dilapidated railway line from Phnom Penh to the Thai border at Poipet, twice the figure reported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the main financier of the over-budget and ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-adb-differ-on-rail-project-41263/
New container terminal may not deliver for Cambodia
Shallow draft, lack of rail connectivity, uneasy relations with Vietnam, and the general slowdown may leave LM 17, Cambodia’s brand new $28-million container terminal near Phnom Penh, up the strait. Even if the terminal achieves the targeted throughput of 110,000 TEUs (it has moved 70,000 so ...
Hindu Business Line News Staff
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/new-container-terminal-may-not-deliver-for-cambodia/article5061737.ece
Capital governor declares moratorium on dredging
Phnom Penh municipal governor Pa Socheatvong has ordered a complete suspension of all sand-dredging activities while the municipality investigates whether the companies are operating illegally, a spokesman said. The order came during a meeting yesterday between the governor and his subordinates, City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/capital-governor-declares-moratorium-dredging
Rail gets rice exports on move
For the first time since a railway rehabilitation project was launched in 2006, Cambodian rice is now being transported from Phnom Penh to the Sihanoukville port along the country’s southern line for export, operators Toll said on Wednesday. Speaking at the Phnom Penh cargo loading station, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rail-gets-rice-exports-move
Phnom Penh Port Trade Volume Increases by 29%
The number of shipping containers that passed through the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port increased by 29 percent during the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2012, according to figures released yesterday. The port received 50,157 standard containers between January and ...
Goods traffic through Phnom Penh port up 29 pct
Cargo shipments moving in and out of the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) increased 29 per cent in the first six months of this year when compared to the same period in 2012, according to official data. The figures show that imported and exported goods amounted ...
‘Master Plan’ Drawn for Phnom Penh Public Transport System
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) met with Phnom Penh municipal authorities last month to present the first stage of a “master plan” for the construction of a much-needed public transport system for the capital. Masato Koto, chief of mission for JICA’s transportation planning group in ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/master-plan-drawn-for-phnom-penh-public-transport-system-32712/
Airline will offer more China trips
Cambodia Angkor Air plans to launch chartered flights between Siem Reap and the southeastern coastal Chinese city of Xiamen next month. The national flag carrier plans to take off for China for the first time on July 11, CAA Chairman Tek Reth Samrach said yesterday, the ...
Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013062566453/Business/airline-will-offer-more-china-trips.html
Mekong Dams Threaten Extinction of Giant Catfish
The elusive Mekong giant catfish, which the U.S.-based World Wildlife Fund (WWF) called “one of the world’s largest and rarest freshwater fish,” can reach up to three meters (10 feet) and weigh up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds). The Xayaburi dam would prove an “impassable barrier” ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/dams-06192013184629.html
Cambodia's largest port sees 14 pct rise in cargo shipment in 5 months
The Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, the kingdom’s largest shipping facility, has seen a 14 percent increase in cargo shipment in the first five months of this year thanks to growing business activities, a port senior official said Wednesday. During January-May period this year, the state-owned port had ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-06/12/c_132450037.htm
Hor Namhong Asks for More Cash for Rail Project
Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong made another appeal to Australia for additional funds to complete a behind-schedule project to rehabilitate the country’s railway network, this time to newly appointed Australian Ambassador Alison Burrows, according to a ministry spokesman. While work on the Southern Line of the ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hor-namhong-asks-for-more-cash-for-rail-project-30272/
Construction Begins to Repair Phnom Penh’s Destroyed Street 63
Workers with heavy machinery began repairing Phnom Penh’s busy Street 63 on Thursday in order to get rid of the potholes and cracked concrete that has turned the street into a divot-ridden, water-logged throughway since new pipes were laid six months ago. The Japanese International Cooperation ...
Japanese Funder Blames City Hall
Japan’s aid arm, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is funding a drainage project along Phnom Penh’s Street 63, said yesterday that while it was true sections of the busy road remained in a deplorable condition, responsibility lay with City Hall. “This is [a] ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/japanese-funder-blames-streets-ruin-on-city-hall-29321/
Families Left Worse off After Railway Project
Phnom Penh families being pushed to the city’s outskirts to make way for a $142.6 million railway renovation project funded by Australia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are falling into debt and finding it harder to earn money and access healthcare according to a ...
Worse than Potholes, Street 63 Roadwork Hurts City’s Image
Skyscrapers, supermarkets and high-end clothing stores along Sihanouk Boulevard may reflect the increasingly affluent side of Phnom Penh, but turning down busy Street 63 toward Central Market the scene is more warzone than Asean capital, with air thick with dust and the road peppered with ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/worse-than-potholes-street-63-roadwork-hurts-citys-image-28799/
Airports operator looks to expand
While Cambodia Airports, of which France-based Vinci Group is major stakeholder, sees tourist numbers taking off, eviction issues are gnawing at the company’s image. Emmanuel Menanteau, chief executive of Cambodia Airports, talked to the Post’s Sarah Thust about the expansion plans. How many tourist arrivals do ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013053165965/CEO-Talk/airports-operator-looks-to-expand.html
Thais to urge transport push
Thailand will propose to Cambodia that they jointly develop border areas and transport links between the two countries, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said yesterday. Thailand will also develop roads, railways and border checkpoints, he said. Proposed road projects include improving roads Nos.5, ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/352101/thais-to-urge-transport-push
As Foreign Aid Increases, Questions About Conditions
Cambodia has seen huge growth of foreign aid and loans over the past two decades, but experts are beginning to question its worth—and what conditions might be attached. Total aid from 1993 to 2012 amounts to around $10 billion, with the percentage of aid coming as ...
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/as-foreign-aid-increases-questions-about-conditions/1664821.html
Homeowners petition ADB
The occupants of 90 Phnom Penh households whose homes were partially or completely dismantled to make way for the Railway Rehabilitation Project partly funded by the ADB have demanded the bank offer them fair compensation. In a letter submitted to the Inter-Ministerial Resettlement Committee, the ADB, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052165738/National/homeowners-petition-adb.html
Japan signs a $90m loan deal to improve highway
After reaching agreement late last month, the contract for a $90 million concession loan from Japan to Cambodia was officially signed in Phnom Penh yesterday to improve 83.5 kilometres of National Road 5. The construction is scheduled to start in June 2015 and will be ...
As Phnom Penh Grows, So Does Its Sewage Problem
Since 1998, Phnom Penh’s population has doubled to more than 2 million. High-rise buildings have popped up in the city’s center and housing developments have been hastily erected. Yet the city’s antiquated, decades-old drainage system has undergone little improvement in that time and experts say the ...
Cambodia’s Excess Baggage
“I don’t know what I was expecting, but I wasn’t going expecting to look out the bus window and see all the blue bags along the roads and in the fields,” said 27-year-old Christopher Convery, who is currently backpacking for the first time in Cambodia. ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/selected-features/cambodias-excess-baggage-22003/
Cambodia’s city port reports 34 pct rise in cargo shipment in Q1
Cargos entering and leaving through Phnom Penh Autonomous Port, the kingdom’s 2nd largest port, increased by 34 percent in the first three months of this year due to rising trade activities, a senior port official said Thursday. During the January-March period this year, the state-owned port ...