Infrastructure
Show the licenses: SRP
An opposition lawmaker is calling for the government to publicise its licensing of Cambodian mines, claiming that parliament has never received formal documentation of licensed mining companies. In a letter to Minister of Industry Mines & Energy Suy Sem last week, Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012083158408/National-news/show-the-licences-srp.html
Ministry plans Xayaburi trip
Cambodia has been asked to send a delegation to the site of the proposed Xayaburi hydro-electric dam in northern Laos, Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology Lim Kean Hor said yesterday. Kean Hor, who is also chairman of Cambodia’s National Mekong Committee, said the equivalent body ...
Xayaburi dam project proceeds as protest grows
In Laos, the construction of controversial hydroelectric dam in Xayaburi province is under way, despite disagreement from its neighbors, Cambodia and Vietnam. The Xayaburi dam project started when the Laotian government and Thailand’s giant construction company, Ch Karnchang Pcl, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in ...
Cambodia seeing a solar surge as prices drop
Cambodia is lighting up with solar power as international politics gluts the world market with inexpensive equipment options, according to industry insiders. The lowering or complete end of subsidies for US, European and Australian firms, along with China’s backing of the renewable energy sector, has seen ...
Construction of Dams Would Strain Land, Water
Cambodia would significantly strain its land and water resources if a projected series of large-scale hydro-power dams are built along the Mekong, according to projections released this week. Fish remains the primary source of protein and researchers [from the Australia National University in Canberra and World Wildlife Fund] ...
Tougher disclosure rules for resources giants
US-listed corporations in Cambodia, including Chevron, Total, CNOOC and ConocoPhillips, that are engaged in extractive industries are now required to comply with additional transparency rules. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) implemented new regulations last week, two years after the legislation was initially passed by Congress. Cambodian monitors ...
PTT offers $960 mln to buy out Sakari to increase coal assets
Thailand’s top energy company, has offered to buy out Singapore-listed Sakari Resources Ltd for $960 million as the oil and gas firm expands into coal to meet rising regional demand for the fuel On Aug. 13, Sakari announced a joint venture with the Royal Group of ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/27/sakari-ptt-idUSL3E8JR02420120827
Mekong dams put millions at risk of hunger
The economic, social and environmental consequences of the construction of dams on the Mekong River could be devastating.. ANU research suggests that millions of people are in danger of going hungry if the dams proceed. Replacing fish as a protein source with alternative food would use ...
http://theconversation.edu.au/mekong-dams-put-millions-at-risk-of-hunger-9087
Energy mix
At the turnoff of Sihanoukville outside Phnom Penhmetal shop owner Kuch Sareun watches the sparks fly as his emplyees join pieces of steel. This year, he installed a diesel-run generator at his business since the frequent electricity outages were hurting his bottom line. Electricity is ...
Cambodian Transparency Organization Applauds US Rule On Oil, Gas and Mining Payments Disclosure
Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency (CRRT) wrote a letter to Ms. Elizabeth M. Murphy, Secretary of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on February 7, 2012 to back up PWYP’s recommendations and to encourage the Commission to define the “Project” in relation to each lease, license ...
Cambodia, the next setting to a ‘Battle of the Rails’
As Australian operator Toll Royal Railways looks at a possible withdrawal from in Cambodia, a new China-backed company tries to take over and promise to rehabilitate more tracks including Phnom Penh-Saigon Toll Royal Railway won in 2010 a concession to operate and upgrade the Cambodian rail ...
http://www.traveldailynews.asia/news/article/50249/cambodia-the-next-setting-to
Regional dams threat to fish: study
Thirteen percent of more than 2,500 freshwater species of fish, crabs and plants profiled across the region are under threat of extinction, a report released on Wednesday says. According to an International Union for Conservation of Nature study of freshwater biodiversity in the “Indo-Burma” region, which includes Cambodia, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012082458270/National-news/regional-dams-threat-to-fish.html
US Extractive Firms Obliged to Disclose Overseas Payments
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted rules that would make it a legal requirement for listed companies operating in the extractive industries and doing business in Cambodia to disclose all major payments they make to the government. The rules, which were adopted in ...
Cambodia Wants More Information on Taiwan's Heroin Haul
Police yesterday said they were seeking more information about a massive haul of heroin-allegedly transited through Cambodia-that was seized from a boat off the coast of Taiwan this week. The Taiwanese Justice Ministry’s Investigation Bureau says it found 70 kg of heroin hidden in a fishing ...
Conference focus on social enterprises
Cambodia’s second conference on social enterprise is set to take place tomorrow with the aim of tackling poverty, social exclusion and health and environmental problems, organisers say. The all-day conference, at the Cambodia-Japan Conference Centre at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, will facilitate discussions among participants ...
Rail freight services begin
Railway freight services between Phnom Penh and Touk Meas commune, in Kampot province’s Banteay Meas district, the location of a Siam Cement factory about 40 kilometres north of Kampot town, began yesterday, finally putting the Toll Royal Railways concession on an earning basis. According to Toll Royal Railways ...
Rail Operator Restarts Train Services to Kampot
Toll Royal Railways (TRR), the current operator of Cambodia’s dilapidated rail network, restarted freight services to Kampot province yesterday, four months after it suspended its work. TRR’s resumption comes on the heals of a rival proposal to manage the train network by a consortium that includes one ...
Railway Family Payouts Could Be Increased
The government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will start drafting a new resettlement plan this month that could improve the compensation on offer for some of the roughly 200 Phnom Penh families losing their homes because of rehabilitation of the country’s railway network in ...
Bank Would Back Firm to Take Over Rail Project
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), which has so far contributed $84 million toward the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s dilapidated railway network, said yesterday it would support a deal to drop the current railway operator if it means the new concessionaire would foot the $60 to $100 million needed ...
Wild lobster stocks replenished
Seven million young lobsters had been released into Cambodia’s rivers and Tonle Sap Lake this year in an effort to build the nation’s fish and shellfish stocks, officials said yesterday. Nao Thouk, general director of the Fisheries Administration at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said, about ...
Chinese state firm in talks to take over rail project
With renovation work on the country’s dilapidated railway at a standstill, the Ministry of Public Works has entered into talks with a regional consortium backed by one of the largest firms in China to replace the railway’s current operator, officials said yesterday. Faced with a ...
Toll may lose rail rights
A company with ties to one of China’s top state-owned firms will look to push Toll Royal Railways and its local partner Royal Group of Companies out of a 30-year railroad concession with pledge to invest nearly US$850 million to revamp existing lines and build an additional ...
Families Told to Prepare to Vacate Land Needed for Railway Station
Government officials met with more than 200 Phnom Penh families on Friday to lay out the state’s case for ownership of their land and the compensation they can expect when they are evicted from their homes situated along the city’s railway tracks. The $142 million project ...