Government

In 2017, the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction (MLMUPC) collected about 371 billion riel (about $ 92 million) in revenue last year, according to a report from the ministry. The income from taxes on property transfers alone collected by the General Department ...

Seemingly sounding the 2018 election bugle, the nascent Grassroots Democracy Party (GDP) yesterday released five major policy initiatives it will implement if it manages the herculean task of winning against the incumbent Cambodian People’s Party. ...

Banteay Meanchey provincial authorities yesterday began issuing a new border pass for residents who wish to cross into Thailand for business. The statement said the new border pass will cost $5 and be valid for two years for multiple entries in and out of Thailand.  ...

China Energy Engineering Corp Ltd will be conducting a second feasibility study on producing safe drinking water from the Kamchay hydropower dam in Kampot province after the first study showed that production costs were higher than initially expected. ...

A public transport system based on boats, known as water taxis, for the capital is in its first stage of development, with officials saying it will be ready by April, in time for Khmer New Year. ...

The Health Minister has ordered civil servants to prioritise the implementation of new social security services for public officials, former government workers and veterans, which came into force at the start of this year. ...

Labour Minister Ith Samheng has warned that any registered unions that remain inactive would be dissolved, while at the same time welcoming new unions as long as they respected the law. ...

Fishermen on the Tonle Sap river are smelling success: The season’s first harvest of the fish now being crushed into the famously pungent prahok has hauled in a bounty set to almost double last year’s catch. ...

Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh yesterday doubled down on his seemingly illegal request for Chinese aid, claiming it was his “right”, despite the law explicitly prohibiting political parties from accepting foreign funds. ...

Cambodian rice exports in 2017 increased 17 percent by volume compared to the year before, with exporters pushing to fill orders under China’s expanded import quota while shipments to European markets remained steady, according to Agriculture Ministry figures. ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Friday sacked an advisor who had been previously convicted in 2010 on fraud charges, according to an Interior Ministry proclamation.​ ...

​Prime Minister Hun Sen and former opposition leader Kem Sokha offered starkly divergent New Year’s messages to the Cambodian people, with the former hailing the Kingdom’s “stability” even as the latter grimly warned that recent democratic backsliding could lead to a “fragmented nation”.​ ​ ...

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 ...

Backed by China, Prime Minister Hun Sen has entered 2018 triumphant from his decades-long struggle with the West – and set the stage for his succession. ...

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. ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng announced yesterday that he would introduce an amendment to the Constitution banning individuals from doing “anything to impact the national interests” of Cambodia, singling out ex-opposition figure Kem Monovithya as an example. ...

China will donate more than 30 different kinds of equipment – including 60,000 polling booths and 15,000 ballot boxes – to the National Election Committee (NEC) ahead of next year’s general elections. ...

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 ...