The Cambodia Daily
EdC Power Rationing to Continue Until Rainy Season
A senior official at the state-owned Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) said yesterday that blackouts in Phnom Penh could persist until the onset of the rainy season in June. EdC last week began rationing power citywide, as Phnom Penh is currently short about 100 megawatts of ...
Officials Mute on Shooting Investigation; Rights Groups Concerned
Government officials remained tight-lipped yesterday about progress in their investigation of the Feb. 20 shooting of three female garment workers during a strike and demonstration in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet city. On Feb 20, three women were wounded when a uniformed gunman opened fire at ...
Forestry Official, Soldiers Agree to Settle Case Out of Court
A Forestry Administration official has agreed to drop his complaint against three RACF soldiers he accused of shooting at him and fellow forestry officials in 2010 in exchange for $15,000, his lawyer said yesterday. However, officials for the Siem Reap Provincial Court and the Military ...
Pailin Looks to Put Longan Fruit on GI Map
Pailin’s juicy longans, a small beige-colored fruit renowned for its sweet taste, is on the way to becoming Cambodia’s third food product to attain Geographic Indicator (GI) status. The longan will join Cambodia’s only other GI-recognized food products: Kompong Speu palm sugar and Kampot ...
Boeng Kak Lake Is No Longer Visible on Google Map of Area
Over three years after Shukaku Inc started filling Boeung Kak lake with sand to make way for a CPP Senator’s massive real estate project, Google Maps has now completely erased the image of the lake, which the municipality’s year-end report says is now 95 percent ...
Villagers Claim Intimidation in Land Settlement
Villagers being questioned in relation to a land dispute with a powerful company said on Friday that a Ratanakiri court official had intimidated them by urging them to accept an out-of-court settlement with the firm or face a countersuit. Court officials denied the claims and said ...
No Investigation of OZ Minerals Deal, Police Say
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have decided not to investigate the Australian mining company OZ Minerals, saying information that the firm paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to family members of officials in the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (Mime) when buying out its ...
In Need of Power, Phnom Penh Blacks Out
Rolling blackouts that plagued Phnom Penh this week were the result of the city’s power supply being unable to meet demand as the country moves into the hot season, officials at state-owned Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) said on Friday. Power Outages rolled over the city this ...
Protesting Garment Workers to Resume Work
After four days of protests, which at times grew violent, striking garment workers at the Manhattan Qing Dao Textile Corp in Kompong Cham province said they would be resuming work Monday after reaching a tentative agreement with the company. On Thursday, more than 1000 workers ...
A Female Entrepreneur Remains Strong as Silk
Seng Takakneary started her business in a one-room shop with two sewing machines in 2004. Today, Ms. Takakneary’s Sentosa Silk employs about 100 staff in Phnom Penh who produce a range of fine Cambodian silk items, including pillows, curtains, bedspreads, dresses, shirts and bags. Since ...
Thai Firm Moves in to Build Koh Kong Power Plant
A Thai Company is conducting a feasibility study to build a coal-fired power plant in Koh Kong province and has already invested in a local firm with permission to develop the plant, according to officials and the company. In an announcement to the Thai Stock ...
Despite Hun Sen's appeal, MFIs stay the course
A meeting between microfinance organizations and the finance minister yesterday resulted in no agreements or special measures for debtors affected by last year’s floods, a microfinance representative said, adding that the sector had done enough already to address concerns over debt among flooded communities. On ...
Authorities Downplay Hostage-Taking in Land Dispute
Two days after Ratanakiri province villagers took hostage a group of local officials who were clearing land for a rubber plantation, authorities downplayed the incident, saying they had no plans to press charges and that “the problem has been settled.” A representative of the rubber company, ...
Villager Patrol Detains Seven Loggers, Confiscates Equipment
Tired of the rampant destruction of their forests by loggers, villagers in Kratie province on Tuesday took matters into their own hands by briefly detaining loggers and confiscating six chainsaws and a tractor, a forestry official and villagers said yesterday. San Sihan, one of the ...
Hun Sen Hails Drop in Crime, but Complete Figures Withheld
Prime Minister Hun Sen heralded an overall 8 percent drop in the national crime rate during the Interior Ministry’s annual conference yesterday and an even more dramatic 13 percent drop in felonies. For the second straight year, though, the ministry did not provide complete figures or ...
New Gov't Body to Regulate Telecom Industry
The government has agreed to create a regulatory body to ensure that companies operating in Cambodia’s telecommunications sector follow regulations and that companies that do not comply are held to account. According to a statement from the Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Hun Sen approved ...
NagaWorld Profits Double to $98 Million
NagaCorp, which owns Phnom Penh’s only licensed casino, announced on Wednesday that net profits at the company had more than doubled in 2011 and that plans are in store to expand its operations in the country. Financial Results filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange ...
Anti-Counterfeit Drug Campaign to Launch Monday
The US Embassy and the Ministry of Health will launch a national public awareness campaign Monday highlighting the dangers of counterfeit drugs, embassy and ministry officials said yesterday. “We want to focus on being able to raise awareness because it is known that using counterfeit ...
Gov't, NGOs Discuss Child Labor in Fisheries
Thousands of children are toiling in the country’s fisheries sector, living in conditions that are often hazardous to their health and depriving them of an education, government officials and UN representatives said yesterday at a workshop in Phnom Penh. Seventy-five percent of the 1.5 million ...
Protest Continues at Factory Linked to Manhattan SEZ
More than 1500 factory workers yesterday marched from the Manhattan Quing Dao Textiles Corp in Kompong Cham province to the provincial headquarters to ask authorities to force the factory owner to abide by two arbitration council rulings, a union representative and a factory worker said ...
Four Men Arrested for Illegal Clearing of National Forest
Police in Kompong Chhnang Province arrested four men and confiscated two bulldozers Tuesday for illegally clearing more than 10 hectares of national forest in the Toek Phos district, officials said yesterday. District Police Chief Kim Sareth said that police apprehended the four laborers in Chorng ...
Businesses Feel Strain of High Gas Prices
The price of gasoline rose to a 5800 riel ($1.44) per liter Monday, a 14 percent rise since the beginning of the year. Economists and businesses yesterday said the high prices are having a negative impact on the economy, as everything from transportation companies to ...
Ease Flood Victims' Debts, Hun Sen Tells MFIs
Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on microfinance institutions to reduce interest rates and expand repayment periods for the tens of thousands of families affected by last year’s devastating floods. Addressing microfinance institutions (MFIs) on Tuesday during a conference at the Ministry of Rural Development, ...
Still No Arrest in Shooting of Special Economic Zone Workers
A day after Interior Minister Sar Kheng revealed that authorities had identified a suspect in the shooting of three female factory workers at a special economic zone (SEZ) in Svay Rieng province, officials yesterday refused to reveal the identity of the gunman, who had still ...