Infrastructure
Transport and shipping
Chugging along- The rehabilitation of the Kingdom’s railways is essential to boosting regional economic ties, but the mammoth project needs to pick up speed
A glance around Battambang’s dilapidated train station reveals the monumental task it will be to complete the Cambodian segment of the ‘iron silk road’, which will connect Southeast Asia to Europe by rail for the first time. Cows graze between missing rails in front of ...
Eight-year investment in Cambodia's airports
Almost $400 million will be invested in Cambodia’s airports over the next eight years, the trade magazine Airport World has reported. The investment will fund the extension to the international terminal at Phnom Penh’s airport, the upgrading of Siem Reap’s airport and improvements to the Sihanoukville ...
Laos holds "groundbreaking" ceremony for contentious Mekong dam
Laos held a “groundbreaking” ceremony on Wednesday for a $3.5 billion hydropower dam on the Mekong River that is opposed by environmentalists and some neighbouring countries because of the possible impact on livelihoods, fisheries and agriculture. But it was unclear when actual construction of the contentious ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/07/laos-dam-idUSL3E8M77GG20121107
Cambodian airports to get $400 million upgrade
VINCI Airports will invest close to $400 million on upgrading Cambodia’s airport system over the next eight years, according to chairman, Nicolas Notebaert. Notebaert, speaking at the Global Airport Development (GAD) conference in Paris earlier today, revealed that $80 million would be invested on an extension ...
Ministry on trail of the apple snail
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, along with Prey Veng provincial agriculture experts and villagers in Svay Ourntor district, are taking measures to eradicate golden apple snails, which feed on rice seedlings, agriculture officials said. According to Prey Veng agriculture chief Ouk Samnang, only a ...
US criticizes Laos decision to build Mekong dam
The United States on Monday criticized a decision by the struggling Asian nation of Laos to build the first dam across the mainstream of the Mekong River, a project that environmentalists warn could affect tens of millions of livelihoods and trigger a dam-building spree along ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121105/us-us-laos-dam/
Hun Sen announces new airport
Prime Minister Hun Sen requisitioned 768 hectares of land on Saturday that will be used to build an international airport in Kampong Chhnang after 2025. During presiding over a land title distribution ceremony in Kampong Chhnang province, the prime minister announced the expansion of the airport. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102959448/Business/hun-sen-announces-new-airport.html
Cambodia Airports Funds Study of Five Airstrips
Cambodia Airports, which operates the country’s three international airports, has financed a study of five of the country’s unused domestic airstrips ahead of government plans to rehabilitate the facilities, a representative of the company said yesterday. Khek Norinda, communications manager at the Cambodia Airports, said that ...
Airport Operator to Go Ahead With Expansion
Cambodia Airports said yesterday that it planned to move forward with plans to build a new security fence at Phnom Penh International Airport ahead of next month’s Asean and East Asia summits, even though its construction will result in more than 180 families being evicted. Speaking ...
Fish output likely to drop
Fishery resources could fall this year because of a lack of flooding along rivers and waterways impeding fish from travelling freely or finding food to encourage their growth, a fishery official says. Sam Nov, deputy general director of Fishery Administration at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102459389/Business/fish-output-likely-to-drop.html
Toll Royal Railways expands
Toll Royal Railways signed two freight logistics agreements with Siam Concrete Group and United Logistics and Distribution at their offices in Phnom Penh’s Central Railway Station yesterday. SCG Cambodia contracted TRR for the transport and warehousing for bagged cement from Touk Meas in Kampot province to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012101259265/Business/toll-royal-railways-expands.html
Rebuilding Cambodia's troubled railways
A project to rebuild Cambodia’s decrepit rail-system appears on track for completion, despite delays and difficulties relocating residents The ABC has been told of the $26 million originally allocated through AusAID, just over $14 million remains, and will go towards finishing tracks and building a bridge ...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-10/an-rebuilding-cambodia27s-troubled-rail-system/4305676
Relocated families appeal to Oz
Thirty families uprooted by Cambodia’s railway rehabilitation project have filed a complaint with Australia’s highest human rights body, alleging rights abuses as a result of the partially AusAid-funded rail project. The complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission was made on behalf of the families by NGOs Equitable Cambodia and Inclusive ...
Government Forms Commission to Evict Families Near Airport
Deputy Prime Minister Sok An yesterday approved the creation of a joint commission which will undertake the role of evicting hundreds of families living near the Phnom Penh International Airport before the Asean and East Asia summits commence next month. Mr. Sath [Choam Chao commune ...
Mass Eviction Looms Ahead Of East Asia Summit
Hundreds of families living near Phnom Penh International Airport are facing imminent eviction from heir homes as security preparations begin for world leaders who will attend next month’s Asean and East Asia summits. A total of 387 families living on 6.3 hectares of land to the ...
Cambodia city port sees 16% surge in shipments in 9 months
Container traffic through Phnom Penh Autonomous Port, Cambodia’s second largest port, increased by 16 percent in the first nine months of this year thanks to increasing import and export activities in garments and construction materials, the port authority said on Wednesday In March last year, to ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2012-10/03/c_131886809.htm
Hun Sen Asks China for Loan to Build New Road
Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that he has requested a $140 million loan from China to build a 190 km road that would branch off National Road 5 and allow easier access to Thailand. The request comes just one month after Mr. Hun Sen returned ...
Rain delays Kampot port construction
Construction of the US$100 million Kampot sea port had been further delayed by rain, materials not being available and incomplete preparations, a local investor revealed yesterday. Vinh Huor, president of the Kampot Special Economic Zone, (KSEZ) said of the delay: “We are preparing to be better, ...
Phnom Penh to get new airport
Prime Minister Hun Sen announced yesterday that Cambodia is going to build a new international airport in Phnom Penh, in response to the rising number of passengers received every year. The Kingdom is expected to get seven million tourists a year by 2020. The initial concept ...
Vinci sees more airport opportunities
French construction and concessions group Vinci expects to see considerably more opportunities to acquire airport concessions in the next two years, its chief executive said on Thursday Vinci’s concessions unit, the operator of nine regional airports in France and Cambodia’s three main airports, is keen on ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/20/vinci-acquisitions-idUSL5E8KK43020120920
Train supply agreement signed
Toll Royal Railway signed an agreement yesterday afternoon with companies that will supply locomotives and parts for Cambodia’s railway network. As a result of the agreement, international tenders will be called in the coming months for the procurement of up to four new 2,000-horsepower locomotives and ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092058822/Business/train-supply-agreement-signed.html
Bridge to Be Built Over Flooded Road in B Meanchey
Amid flooding caused by heavy rain in Thailand, Banteay Meanchey provincial officials have commissioned the construction of a steel bridge over an inundated section of road on the outskirts of Poipet City, officials said yesterday. Flooding in Preah Vihear province, which started last week following heavy ...
20 More Garment Factory Workers Injured on Way to Work
More than 20 garment workers were injured yesterday in Svay Rieng province when a truck in which they were traveling overturned, a police official said. Fifty-seven workers were on board an open-backed truck in Chantrea district when the driver lost control on a road that had ...
Former Anti-Drugs Chief Says He Is a Victim, Not a Criminal
At his appeal hearing yesterday, former anti-drug police chief Moek Dara railed against what he said was injustice of his incarceration for a slew of drug-related crimes, for which he continues to deny his guilt. Mr. Dara, former chief of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, ...