Marine and coastal areas

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Throughout the drama this spring revolving around the dismissal of the ambitious Chinese official Bo Xilai and the investigation of his wife as a murder suspect, the most mysterious figure has been a French architect named Patrick Henri Devillers. When Mr. Bo ...

The Ministry of Tourism will shift its focus to ecotourism development in the Kingdom’s northeast after efforts to promote travel to Cambodia’s coastline proved successful. ...

State-owned Telecom Cambodia (TC) and Vietnam Telecom International (VTI) on Friday jointly launched Super Highway Telecom Network in order to improve Internet and telecom services in Cambodia and to meet customer’s demands, said a joint press release. The 260-kilometer super highway link connects VTI’s POP (Point ...

About 1.8 million Cambodians traveled to the coastal and northeastern provinces to celebrate Khmer New Year, a 50 percent increase compared with last year, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said yesterday. Mr Khon said Cambodians are starting to seek out other vacation spots besides the coastal provinces ...

In an effort to stop their homes from being swallowed up by a Chinese mega-tourism project, Koh Kong villagers said they will submit a petition to the Chinese Embassy today, calling for intervention from visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao. Villager representative Tith Ten, 54, from Kiri ...

The Minister of Environment has countered a rights worker’s claim that villagers relocated to make way for a Chinese-backed mega-tourism project in Koh Kong province lack proper access to medical care. About 1,100 families have been forcibly evicted from their coastal villages in Botum Sakor National ...

One of five families facing eviction from their island home off the coast of Koh Kong province has written to the provincial governor, urging him to intervene to stop a Chinese company developing their land. “If the companies want to take over villagers’ land, they ...

Kep province – On a sunny weekday in Kep, a seaside village about halfway along Cambodia’s coast, the crab market was heaving. Women in straw hats and rubber boots stood knee deep in the surf shouting out prices, periodically darting into the sea to pull writhing ...

Koh Kong villagers facing the loss of their land to a Chinese mega-tourism project held a news conference in Phnom Penh yesterday to appeal to the government for the right to remain on their property. Kith Ten, 54, from Kiri Sakor district’s Prek Khsach commune, ...

SIHANOUKVILLE – Two months after Cambodia Angkor Air (CAA) began operating flights between Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, demand for the route is not covering the national carrier’s costs, with planes running at little over half their capacity, an official at the airline said. CAA decided to ...

Year-end travelers have fully booked Sihanoukville province’s hotels and guesthouses for the first-ever Sea Festival, which is expected to attract thousands of visitors this year, tourism officials said. Tith Chantha, general director at the Ministry of Tourism, confirmed that all hotel and guesthouse rooms were booked ...

More than 250 villagers blocked National Road 48 yesterday in Koh Kong province while protesting against their eviction from their Kiri Sakor district homes, slowing traffic for more than eight hours, officials said Prom Sann, a representative for the villagers, said the protesters represented 250 families ...

Hundreds of people whose land has been swallowed by a giant Chinese tourism project on the coast of Koh Kong province will attempt to demonstrate their grievances today by blocking national roads 4 and 48, villagers and human rights workers said Protesters have been resisting China’s ...

The national carrier Angkor Air will launch a regular flight service on December 14 between Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, said Quang Dinh, assistant to the CEO of Cambodia Angkor Air, yesterday This will be the first time that Sihanoukville, the nation’s main coastal destination, will receive ...

Environment Minister Mok Mareth yesterday asked China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to provide more details on the environmental impact of its project, though he said that exploration for oil and gas would likely begin later this month. At a meeting at the Ministry of Environment, ...

Bad weather scared tourists from Cambodian beaches and other popular travel destinations during a three-day national holiday, provincial tourism officials said yesterday. Preah Sihanouk province saw a 30 to 35 percent drop in tourist numbers during the Pchum Ben holiday, which ended Wednesday, Seng Kha, deputy ...

Singapore’s decades-long effort to reclaim land from the ocean has expanded the nation’s coastline and fueled its building boom. But it has also depleted its supply of sand.  In recent years, the massive sand shortage has been worsened by export bans by neighboring countries, driving ...

Mount Borkor Resort, the highest location in Cambodia, located near the coastline, will be inaugurated to welcome tourists from all destinations by the end of 2011, while the road climbing to the plateau’s peak and other tourism structures are about to be completed So far, the ...

Democrat MP for Surat Thani Suthep Thaugsuban denies he held secret talks with Cambodian officials about oil and gas interests in the overlapping marine area during the tenure of the Democrat-led government. Mr Suthep, a former deputy prime minister, conceded yesterday he met Cambodian Deputy Prime ...

The number of visitors arriving by cruise ship in Sihanoukville dropped steeply in the first six months of the year compared to the same period last year, a Tourism Ministry official said yesterday. A lack of attractions in Sihanoukville and high visa fees were keeping ...

The government is drafting a new law that will aim at improving auditing standards and management practices at all of Cambodia’s ports on the coast and rivers and at dry ports inland, officials said yesterday. Speaking at a workshop on port regulation in Phnom Penh, ...

Cambodia Angkor Air will launch a regular flight service between Siem Reap and Sihanoukville by the end of the year, an official at the Council of Ministers said yesterday. There are currently no flights to Sihanoukville, the country’s premier coastal resort, even though the airport ...

KOH KONG, Cambodia (AP) — Round a bend in Cambodia’s Tatai River and the virtual silence of a tropical idyll turns suddenly into an industrial nightmare. Lush jungle hills give way to a flotilla of dredgers operating 24 hours a day, scooping up sand and piling ...

Villagers along the Koh Kong province’s coastline have been relocated by a Chinese development company as they have not been granted access to their farm land which falls within the development area and are running short of food. 20 tons of rice have been delivered ...