Land
Land disputes down in 2015 due to ELC freeze
Although the number of land disputes across the country decreased in the first six months of the year—largely due to a freeze on the granting of economic land concessions—little has been done to resolve existing disputes, according to a report released Wednesday by rights group ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/land-disputes-down-in-2015-due-to-elc-freeze-89260/
Cambodia takes regional lead with elite bomb dive squad
A quiet, unoccupied section of Victory Beach in Sihanoukville hosted a group of remarkable visitors this week as divers from the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) tested sophisticated new sonar and magnetic equipment donated by the US. ...
Jack Laurenson
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13581/cambodia-takes-regional-lead-with-elite-bomb-dive-squad/
Farmer arrested for fighting police officers
Police in Kratie province on Sunday arrested a farmer—accused of trying to squat on a new social land concession for poor families—after he allegedly struck the officers when they arrived to tell him and his wife to leave. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/farmer-arrested-for-fighting-police-officers-89122/
Report slams push for rubber
Protected areas and other biodiversity hotspots across Southeast Asia are increasingly under threat from expanding rubber plantations, with Cambodia at risk of losing more ecologically important land than any of its neighbours, a recent study reports. ...
Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/report-slams-push-rubber
Protesters decry ‘land grabbing’
About 300 protesters from Svay Rieng and Preah Sihanouk provinces marched to parliament yesterday to file petitions urging the local authorities to intervene to resolve ongoing land disputes in their homelands. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/protesters-decry-land-grabbing
Villagers petition Cambodian lawmakers for help with land dispute cases
About 200 villagers involved in land disputes in three provinces protested Monday outside Cambodia’s parliament building in Phnom Penh, demanding that lawmakers resolve their cases and threatening not to vote for those who turn down their requests. ...
Families split on offer from Vietnamese firm
Seventy families in Ratanakkiri province have agreed to accept a 100-hectare plot of land, bringing an end to their four-year dispute with a Vietnamese rubber company, but 156 other families refused to settle, officials said Thursday. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-split-on-offer-from-vietnamese-firm-88709/
In the rush to open more rubber plantations, nobody wins
Land conversions for rubber plantations in continental South-East Asia have expanded to areas where rubber is not historically grown, posing risks to both farmers’ livelihoods and environment conservation. The study defines continental South-East Asia as comprising Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. ...
SciDevNet News Staff
http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/environment/news/in-the-rush-to-open-more-rubber-plantations-nobody-wins.html
7NG staffer allegedly ‘took $1.5m’ in land scam
A former police officer yesterday faced trial over allegations he scammed more than $1.5 million from his friend and past employer by registering company land in his own name. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/7ng-staffer-allegedly-took-15m-land-scam
Families file petition over land dispute with dry port company
Representatives for 77 families involved in a land dispute with a company that plans to build a dry port and industrial area in Kratie province petitioned the Interior Ministry and the National Assembly in Phnom Penh on Monday against a court order for them to ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-file-petition-over-land-dispute-with-dry-port-company-88166/
ELC plantation land: use it – or lose it
One decade ago, villagers celebrated when a 10,000 hectare Economic Land Concession here was awarded to a prominent Phnom Penh tycoon. ...
Ven Rathavong and Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13247/elc-plantation-land--use-it-----or-lose-it/
Tycoon under fire for casino project
A tycoon who is building a casino and a dam in Oddar Meanchy province has come under fire for displacing villagers – and possibly the military. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tycoon-under-fire-casino-project
Landmine casualties in Cambodia down 36 pct in 5 months of 2015
Cambodia has seen 57 landmine casualties in the first five months of 2015, down 36 percent compared with 89 casualties over the same period of last year, the latest report said Saturday. ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/article/6611927/2015/07/11/landmine-casualties-cambodia-down-36-pct-5-months-2015
Tycoon compensates 135 families at SEZ
A long-running land dispute between more than 130 families and the company managing the Koh Kong Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is nearing its end, with only seven families left to sign the compensation agreement, officials confirmed yesterday. ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tycoon-compensates-135-families-sez-0
Land disputant freed on bail in B Meanchey
A community representative was released on bail by Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court on Tuesday, after he was arrested and charged with disturbing private property. ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/land-disputant-freed-bail-b-meanchey
SEZs investment potential relies in infrastructure
In 2005, after special economic zones (SEZs) were formally introduced in Cambodia through a sub-decree, Svay Reing’s Manhattan SEZ became the first to began construction the same year. The Sihanoukville SEZ remains Cambodia’s largest with over 1,000 hectares in the area. The $320 million development is ...
James Whitehead
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/sezs-investment-potential-relies-infrastructure
Defence minister to meet UDG in China
Minister of Defence General Tea Banh left for a bilateral military-to-military visit to China yesterday, where it was announced that he would pay a visit to the state-owned Union Development Group, which has drawn the ire of land rights campaigners in Cambodia for forced evictions ...
Cheang Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/defence-minister-meet-udg-china
Gov’t silent after first day of border meeting
Var Kimhong, the CPP government’s minister in charge of border affairs, declined to speak with reporters Tuesday after hosting Vietnam’s deputy foreign minister for the first Joint Border Committee meeting since the opposition CNRP began a campaign to uncover Vietnamese territorial encroachments. ...
Kuch Naren and Alex Willemyns
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-silent-after-first-day-of-border-meeting-87520/
Question time Village rep arrested in B Meanchey
A village representative was arrested on Saturday and sent for questioning yesterday at Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court over allegations of private property destruction in a long-running land dispute with the sister-in-law of Deputy Prime Minister Ke Kim Yan and Chhay Chhay Investment, according to a ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/question-time-village-rep-arrested-b-meanchey
NGO director went to VN border to see incursions
Phen Bunthoeun, the NGO director who was arrested and detained overnight by Vietnamese authorities for leading about 40 students to visit a disputed border area in Svay Rieng province on Saturday, admitted Monday that he had gone there to inspect alleged border violations. ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngo-director-went-to-vn-border-to-see-incursions-87435/
Rainsy says VN border map shows intrusions
Ahead of a meeting between Cambodian and Vietnamese border officials in Phnom Penh on Monday, opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Sunday that the CNRP’s digital copy of the border map had now been set up to work with GPS technology and had already revealed misplaced ...
Alex Willemyns
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rainsy-says-vn-border-map-shows-intrusions-87351/
The economics of ELCs
Economic land concessions in Cambodia have a profound and negative impact upon rural households located near the plantations, severely limiting residents’ access to natural resources and causing incomes to dip by almost a fifth, a new study by the University of Copenhagen has found. The report, ...
Ethan Harfenist
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/economics-elcs
Suspect accused of instigating squatting
A man was arrested in Kampong Cham’s Batheay district on Tuesday by police who allege that he was the ringleader of an illegal land grab in Mondulkiri. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/suspect-accused-instigating-squatting
New SEZ aims for logistics hub
A new special economic zone aiming to make Cambodia into a regional logistics hub held an official groundbreaking ceremony yesterday, at its future home on the muddy outskirts of Phnom Penh in Kandal’s Takhmao district. The $100 million Kerry Worldbridge SEZ project is a partnership between ...
Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/new-sez-aims-logistics-hub