Electricity infrastructure

An environmental group yesterday criticized Thailand’s announcement last week that it would not oppose Laos’ proposal to build the first Lower Mekong dam at the upcoming Mekong River Commission (MRC) meeting, as long as Laos addresses the dam’s environmental impacts. Water and environment ministers from Cambodia, ...

Thailand will not object to the proposed Xayaburi hydropower dam in Laos, but Vientiane must shoulder responsibility for potential environmental damage caused by the US$3.8 billion project, the Bangkok Post reported yesterday. “Laos has the right to construct the dam as it is located inside Lao ...

The Royal Government needs to address the environmental impacts not only from climate change but from man-made, water-based infrastructure such as dams before another natural disaster like the recent flooding claims hundreds of lives, community representatives said yesterday. At the first NGO Forum conference on climate ...

Improved fiscal management and preparation for a decline in foreign aid would help increase Cambodia’s credit rating, according to a quarterly credit opinion from Moody’s Investor Service, which maintained a stable outlook for the country. Reduced exposure to crisis and stagnation in Western economies, continued foreign ...

As Mekong River Commission (MRC) countries prepare for a crucial meeting next week to debate Laos’ proposal to build the first Lower Mekong River dam, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has called for a delay of the controversial project. The US Senate’s concern was echoed ...

China’s Erdos Hongjun planned to build a bauxite processing plant in Kratie province as part of the company’s US$1.5 billion venture in the Kingdom’s northeast, provincial officials said yesterday. The plant would serve Erdos’s mine in neighbouring Mondulkiri, an exploration licence for which was granted by ...

Environmental Group World Wildlife Fund yesterday called on the four member governments of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to shelve Laos’ proposal to build the first Lower Mekong River hydropower dam when the countries meet next week in Siem Reap province. Las has planned numerous dams ...

Hundreds of students attending a forum yesterday on plans of regional governments to develop hydropower dams on the Mekong River expressed concern over the river’s future, and they urged the governments to abandon the projects or proceed with caution. The forum in Phnom Penh was the ...

A Japan energy company yesterday said it planned to build a rice mill fuelled by rice husks in Cambodia’s Takeo province. New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kingdom’s Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) confirming cooperation ...

A representative of environmental group International Rivers said yesterday that if the Laos government were to move forward with a controversial dam project, it would violate the 1995 Mekong Agreement. “Moving forward with the dam would be against international law,” said Ame Trandem, Sountheast Asia program ...

A consulting firm commissioned by the Lao government to prepare a report on the controversial US$3.8 billion Xayaburi dam project has rejected claims by environmentalists that their assessment was “biased” due partly to existing ties with a project backer. On Wednesday, conservation group International Rivers claimed ...

JAPAN Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation has started preliminary surveying as the sole operator in Cambodia’s Block 17 onshore oil field, a 6,500 square-kilometre area of hilly forest in Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear and Siem Reap provinces, according to an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) ...

An environmental group yesterday refuted the validity of a report commissioned by Laos in September claiming that construction of its controversial Xayaburi dam would not have a significant impact on the Mekong River. The report, completed for the Lao government by Swiss engineer Poyry Energy AG, ...

Mitsui Oil Exploration Co (Moeco), a Japanese petroleum firm that specializes in natural gas, wants to start conducting seismic operations testing for oil and gas north of the Tonle Sap lake by February 2012 and wrap up the tests by May, according to excerpts of ...

Depending on who you believe, the South China Sea could be the next Persian Gulf due to its untapped oil and gas deposits. It’s also a key shipping lane that the US Navy has guarded for decades. That’s why so many countries are sparring over remote ...

Although a Thai minister claimed recently that delays in resolving the disputed overlapping claims area with Cambodia would result in an energy crisis, experts said yesterday the statement had been politically motivated. Thai Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said last week Thailand would run out of gas ...

Seventy-one out of 89 National Assembly lawmakers yesterday voted to approve the construction of a coal power plant in Preah Sihanouk province by a company run by CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin and his daughter, and licensed the plant to sell electricity to Electricite du ...

The opposition has raised conflict-of-interest concerns over another agreement headed to the National Assembly today guaranteeing the government will buy electricity from a power plant to be constructed by a company owned by ruling party Senator Lao Meng Khin. However, it was unclear yesterday whether the ...

Atok-Big Wedge Co. Inc., a listed company owned by the group of former Trade minister Roberto Ongpin, acquired Tidemark Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong company that owns 25.9 percent of Forum Energy Plc, an oil and gas firm controlled by Philex Mining Corp. Atok-Big Wedge said ...

Thailand is reportedly preparing to re-enter negotiations with Cambodia on the Overlapping Claims Area after officials from the two countries talked this week at the ASEAN Energy Business Forum in Brunei. Thai Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said yesterday that he met informally with Ministry of Industry ...

Tractors carried members of 50 families from Lor Peang village in Kampong Chhnang province’s Kampong Tralach district to the provincial courthouse early yesterday morning, where their hopes faded as they waited for court officials to accept their latest complaint against a company they accuse of ...

The government has given a Chinese mining company the right to extract gold from 28 square km of land in Kratie province’s Sambor district, a provincial official said yesterday. On July 5, the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy granted Hing Yuan Hanng Yeak Co Ltd ...

VISA, Mastercard, Dell and Cisco Systems have been added to a growing list of US companies looking to enter the Cambodian market, according to Frances Zwenig, counsellor of the US-ASEAN Business Council. The financial services and information technology companies joined GE, Chevron, Johnson & Johnson ...

Weak enforcement of mining laws excludes local communities from the decision-making process and smudges the revenue transparency, said George Boden, a campaigner at watchdog group Global Witness. Weak enforcement of mining laws excludes local communities from the decision-making process and smudges the revenue transparency, said ...