Special economic zones

As a national crackdown on illegal logging rumbles on, Try Pheap, Cambodia’s most prominent timber tycoon, issued a public denial of reports that he was linked to an economic land concession (ELC) where authorities found hundreds of cubic metres of potentially illegal timber. ...

Factory owners and four jailed garment workers will be summoned today to appear at the Svay Rieng Provincial Court in the coming days to provide “clarification” over a series of walkouts and riots that struck two special economic zones (SEZs) in Bavet City last month, ...

Special economic zones (SEZs), billed as a one-stop shop for potential investors, have had a slow start in the Kingdom – only 13 out of 30 registered zones are operational – with many failing to get off the ground given the difficulty in providing the ...

Two economic zones in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet City closed down on Thursday, sending some 30,000 workers home over what local officials said were violent protests by groups of workers demanding higher wages. ...

Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ), the private firm that operates Cambodia’s most developed industrial park, will hold a bookbuild for investors later this month for an initial public offering it hopes will raise up to $11.6 million for expansion and debt repayment, according to ...

The book-build and upcoming listing of the capital’s port operator has taken some of the wind out of the sails of the IPO plans Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ), but the industrial park operator has charted a new course and sweetened its dividend policy ...

The number of workers at the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) is expected to increase from 30,000 now to 200,000 in the next few years as the port city becomes a manufacturing hub for the Kingdom, a senior official with the Commerce Ministry said yesterday. ...

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have brought almost 70,000 new jobs to the country, according to an Asian Development Bank report released last week. With tax exemptions on production materials, lower profit tax, and renewable leases, the SEZs have drawn foreign-owned factories manufacturing everything from bicycles ...

Toyota Cambodia will build a new facility on the outskirts of Phnom Penh to serve its customers and operations, the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ) said in a statement yesterday. ...

Cambodia’s new industrial development policy calls for more factories and special economic zones, but accomplishing this will be difficult. ...

Thai-listed electronics manufacturer, SVI Public Limited, will be next in line to join Cambodia’s emerging light-manufacturing industry. ...

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

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 ...

Eighteen families in a remote region of Koh Kong province have been ordered to move, in order to make way for the development of a Chinese-funded luxury tourist outpost. The families received notice on June 5, ordering them to leave their homes within one month. ...

The government plans to rope in private firms for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s big diplomatic push to ‘Act East Policy’, with its proposed special purpose vehicle for investment in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam set to offer up to 51 per cent stake to the ...

The Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone has 77 tenants from nine countries and 80 per cent occupancy, but high electricity costs and corruption remain a drag on profits. The main issue is electricity costs, says PPSEZ chief executive Hiroshi Umaetsu. “If [electricity] goes from 19 ...

The operator of Cambodia’s largest industrial park, the Phnom Penh SEZ, plans to list on the Cambodian Securities Exchange (CSX) next year in an attempt to raise $15 million to set up another economic zone in Poipet City, according to the company and media reports. ...

Japanese conglomerate Hitachi on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding with three major companies to conduct a feasibility study on the potential development of a new special economic zone (SEZ) in Kandal province, said the CEO of one of the signatories. ...

A 60-year-old woman was injured and sent to hospital yesterday when police cracked down on anti-eviction protesters blocking a busy bridge in Koh Kong province, villagers said. More than 100 villagers locked in a dispute with the company that manages the Koh Kong Special Economic ...

Discussion about hydroelectric power plants in Cambodia tends to focus on two aspects, both negative. One is an overdependence on Chinese investment, and the other is a relatively disproportionate focus on the environmental impacts of hydroelectric power. Chinese Influence Most hydroelectric power plants in Cambodia are associated ...

A private clinic aiming to provide medical care to factory workers in the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (SEZ) will open this month, the health centre’s managing director said yesterday. ...

Two factories in the Manhattan Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet town have fired more than 40 workers since thousands-strong strikes ended early this month, unions say. Terminations at Best Way and Fico garment factories were bosses’ way of exacting revenge for the ...