Land
Public land lease
Government will start chipping away at protected areas
Between 2009 and 2012, the Ministry of Environment went on nationwide leasing spree, signing over vast swaths of the country’s nominally protected areas to private companies for rubber plantations and other agribusiness ventures. ...
Zsombor Peter and Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-will-start-chipping-away-at-protected-areas-113127/
Families in land dispute with sugar firm reach $500 deal
More than 300 families in Kompong Speu province this week signed a deal with Senator Ly Yong Phat’s Phnom Penh Sugar Company aimed at ending their long-running land dispute, though several of the families have yet to agree on compensation. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-in-land-dispute-with-sugar-firm-reach-500-deal-112792/
Koh Kong families reach agreement with UDG
About 100 additional families have accepted compensation packages from Union Development Group (UDG) to relocate and make way for the massive development project the Chinese firm is building along the coast of Koh Kong province, according to the Environment Ministry. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/koh-kong-families-reach-agreement-with-udg-112713/
Battle over mangrove sees SEZ trump NGO
A special economic zone developer will be allowed to continue bulldozing a mangrove forest in Preah Sihanouk province’s Teuk Thla commune, the provincial governor said yesterday. ...
Mech Dara and Igor Kossov
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/battle-over-mangrove-sees-sez-trump-ngo
Police block Preah Vihear land dispute forum
More than 200 people representing three Preah Vihear province communities were set to discuss land disputes yesterday when police broke up their public forum, according to Tork Hong, a representative of a local community from nearby Prey Lang forest. ...
Kong Meta
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-block-preah-vihear-land-dispute-forum
PPSEZ IPO fully subscribed
After an unexpected surge in Thai investor interest, Phnom Penh SEZ Plc has secured sufficient commitments to fully cover the strategic and bookbuild share allocations of its initial public offering (IPO), and has determined an issue price for shares to be listed on the Cambodian ...
Cam McGrath
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ppsez-ipo-fully-subscribed
Justice minister wants Battambang land dispute resolved
Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vattana has weighed in on a prolonged land dispute at the Battambang Provincial Court that has seen three protestors shot and another imprisoned. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/justice-minister-wants-battambang-land-dispute-resolved
An IPO with a value approach
Phnom Penh SEZ Plc, which operates a 357-hectare industrial park on the outskirts of the capital, held a bookbuild last month to determine the share price for its upcoming initial public offering on the Cambodian stock market. The private company aims to raise between $8.1 ...
Cam McGrath
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ipo-value-approach
Kampong Chhnang disputants’ water woes ‘ignored’
Some 34 families in Kampong Chhnang’s Lorpeang village yesterday filed a new petition at the provincial hall urging authorities to intervene in a nine-year land dispute with KDC International, which villagers say has reached a bottleneck and is affecting their daily lives. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kampong-chhnang-disputants-water-woes-ignored
Hundreds protest Tbong Khmum land disputes in capital
Several hundred protesters representing some 4,000 families from Tbong Khmum’s Memot and Dambe districts arrived in the capital yesterday to petition against powerful private interests they say are encroaching on their land. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hundreds-protest-tbong-khmum-land-disputes-capital
PPSEZ sets timeline for delayed IPO launch
After numerous delays, industrial park operator Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone announced yesterday that it had finalised a timeline for the launch of its upcoming initial public offering, and would kick off a five-day bookbuilding session starting on April 18 and hold a public roadshow ...
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ppsez-sets-timeline-delayed-ipo-launch
Koh Kong locals seek land’s return
Representatives of 526 Koh Kong families hopped on their motos on Friday morning to deliver petitions to their district town halls calling for the return of land taken from them by a 2006 economic land concession (ELC), as well as compensation for lost crops. ...
Bun Sengkong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/koh-kong-locals-seek-lands-return
Math behind PM’s canceled ELCs claim still a mystery
On Friday, it will have been a month since Prime Minister Hun Sen took the stage during the opening of the Environment Ministry’s palatial new headquarters in Phnom Penh to announce that 1 million hectares had been confiscated from wayward landholders and would be doled ...
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/math-behind-pms-canceled-elcs-claim-still-a-mystery-110340/
Thai company to build $30 million factory
One of Thailand’s leading agricultural groups and a major producer of animal feed will build a $30 million factory in the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone, company officials announced last week. ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22973/thai-company-to-build--30-million-factory/
Thais propose business centers in border areas
Thai executives are encouraging their government to build business centers in Cambodian provinces that border the country, as well as in its other ASEAN neighbors, according to Thai media reports. ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22798/thais-propose-business-centers-in-border-areas/
Thailand planning more border SEZs
A Thai study being carried out on special economic zones (SEZ) in 15 provinces along the country’s borders has been welcomed by Cambodian and foreign businessmen, who say both countries can benefit, but some uncertainty remains over exactly where and when the zones will be ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22680/thailand-planning-more-border-sezs/
Labor shortage hits coastal SEZ
Preah Sihanouk province’s special economic zone (SEZ) does not have enough workers to keep its manufacturing plants and services running at full capacity, officials said. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21963/labor-shortage-hits-coastal-sez/
PM pledges 1m hectares of ELC land to poor
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday declared an end to the government’s review of Cambodia’s economic land concessions (ELCs), pledging that nearly 1 million hectares of reappropriated property would be handed over to poor families. He also announced a major reorganization of the two ministries ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/pm-pledges-1m-hectares-of-elc-land-to-poor-109007/
New border link expected to boost trade with Thailand
Cambodia and Thailand are set to have a new international border crossing on National Road 5, linking Banteay Meanchey province and Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21667/new-border-link-expected-to-boost-trade-with-thailand/
Families file complaint against CPP senator
Nine families who lost their farmland to an under-construction special economic zone (SEZ) in Koh Kong province filed a complaint with the provincial government on Friday seeking to have the land excised from the industrial park and returned to them. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-file-complaint-against-cpp-senator-108773/
Indigenous community’s collective land still in danger: Report
The collective land of indigenous communities in Cambodia will continue to face encroachment from economic land concessions and the actions of private companies in the future despite the Cambodian Government’s moratorium on granting ELC licenses, according to a Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) report ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21322/indigenous-community---s-collective-land-still-in-danger--report/
Cambodia aims higher in manufacturing sector
After decades of solid growth driven by its garment industry, Cambodia is seeking to shift its economy into more sophisticated light manufacturing, such as electronics and auto-parts. Most of these manufacturers are Japanese and they are slowly coming online in Cambodia’s special economic zones, aiming ...
Daniel De Carteret, Chan Muyhong
http://www.voanews.com/content/cambodia-aims-higher-in-manufacturing-sector/3184557.html
Lengthy Banteay Meanchey land dispute finally ends in payout
After a seven-year struggle, a Banteay Meanchey teacher finally got $8,000 in compensation for her land, which was seized by the Cambodian military during a border flare-up with Thailand. ...
Niem Chheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lengthy-banteay-meanchey-land-dispute-finally-ends-payout
Families in Ratanakkiri file ELC complaint
More than 220 ethnic Tompuon families in Ratanakkiri’s Lumphat district yesterday filed a complaint to rights group Adhoc over a 2,000-hectare land dispute against an economic land concession. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/families-ratanakkiri-file-elc-complaint