The Phnom Penh Post
Skilled workers and infrastructure needed
Cambodia needs about $12 billion over a 10-year period to invest in the development of a skilled workforce and improved infrastructure in order to meet the goals of its Industrial Development Policy (IDP), Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak said recently. ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/skilled-workers-and-infrastructure-needed
Cambodia joins int’l system for registry of industrial designs
Cambodia will join an international convention on the registration of industrial designs next month, furthering the scope of the county’s intellectual property protections, a government official said yesterday. ...
Matthieu de Gaudemar
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodia-joins-intl-system-registry-industrial-designs
Locals raising funds for wildlife watering holes
A Kampong Speu community is looking to raise money to build three watering holes for wildlife, especially the endangered banteng, for the upcoming hot season after a nearby sugarcane plantation allegedly filled in existing streams. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/locals-raising-funds-wildlife-watering-holes
Families protest water restrictions in Poipet
Nearly 50 families from a village in Banteay Meanchey province’s Poipet town yesterday protested to demand that a private utilities company stop restricting water supply in their area because they didn’t have enough water to drink and irrigate their crops. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/families-protest-water-restrictions-poipet
Fresh sand controversy
Cambodia exported more than 108,000 tonnes of sand to India in 36 separate shipments between 2013 and 2015, according to Indian customs data obtained yesterday, contradicting Cambodian customs data that show no sand being sent there at all. ...
Alex Willemyns and Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fresh-sand-controversy
France loans €30M for water plant expansion
The French Agency for Development has granted a 30 million euro, or $31.1 million, loan for the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) to expand one of its four water plants and increase its water distribution in the capital. ...
Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/france-loans-eu30m-water-plant-expansion
Preliminary voter list due next week: NEC
After a three-month registration period, the National Election Committee will release its preliminary voter list on January 3, giving political parties, civil society and election monitors until January 14 to lodge complaints for any discrepancies found in the rolls. ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/preliminary-voter-list-due-next-week-nec
City considers adding more referral hospitals
Phnom Penh City Hall plans to build more referral hospitals in the capital in the coming years as the seven currently in use are nearing capacity, according to Municipal Governor Pa Socheatvong. ...
Kong Meta
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/city-considers-adding-more-referral-hospitals
Vets living on SLC say site lacks clean water
About 30 veterans living in Aphivat Thmey village in Stung Treng’s Samaki commune – on land granted to them as a social land concession (SLC) last year – are pushing authorities to deliver a basic necessity the site lacks: clean water. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vets-living-slc-say-site-lacks-clean-water
Pheapimex ties ‘cause for concern’
Alex Corporation, the firm behind a proposal for an ambitious Mondulkiri mining project, appears to be ultimately owned by ruling party Senator Lao Meng Khin and his wife, Choeung Sopheap, the Post has discovered, a scenario rights groups say should give cause for concern. ...
Jack Davies
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pheapimex-ties-cause-concern
Order signals likely end to airport land dispute
The Council of Ministers on Tuesday directed the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) to submit a confirmation that the city’s airport will not be expanded so that officials can begin issuing land titles to surrounding communities, seemingly signalling an end a long-running land dispute. ...
Touch Sokha and Ananth Baliga
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/order-signals-likely-end-airport-land-dispute
Chhin chides ministry on ELCs
Deputy Prime Minister Bin Chhin, the Kingdom’s top authority in charge of resolving land disputes, slammed the Ministry of Agriculture over “shameful” irregularities in granting economic land concessions at the Environment Ministry’s annual meeting yesterday.During yesterday’s meeting, Chhin accused the Ministry of Agriculture of granting ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/chhin-chides-ministry-elcs
Logging busts persist as tycoon implicated
Two separate timber busts in recent days netted some 300 pieces of illegally transported wood in Stung Treng belonging to a prominent businessman, and several hidden timber stockpiles at a military officer’s Kampong Speu lumberyard. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/logging-busts-persist-tycoon-implicated
Plans spilt for oil refinery
A mysterious cluster of crude oil storage tanks recently constructed on the coast near Kampot are linked to a $400 million project by timber baron Try Pheap to build an industrial park and oil refinery, government officials confirmed yesterday. ...
Kali Kotoski and Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/plans-spilt-oil-refinery
Accounting platform seeks funds
The developer of Banhji, a locally developed accounting platform aimed at small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), is in talks with investors to secure funding as part of a plan to expand the application beyond Cambodia. Officially launched in October after a four-month beta testing period, ...
Matthieu de Gaudemar
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/accounting-platform-seeks-funds
Homes wrecked in riverbank collapse
Three houses collapsed into the Mekong River in Kratie’s Chhlong district after a riverbank gave way on Monday amid recent unseasonable heavy rains. Twenty-eight other houses in the predominately Cham village have been pre-emptively dismantled following the collapse, according to Meas Kunmony, district deputy governor. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/homes-wrecked-riverbank-collapse
NEC-run safe zones suggested
A senior member of the Electoral Reform Alliance yesterday appealed for the National Election Committee to be given special jurisdictional powers over certain areas around the country during election campaigns so that it can ensure freedom of assembly. ...
Touch Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/nec-run-safe-zones-suggested
Villagers wary of M’kiri mine project
An environmental impact assessment released on Friday for a $245 million mining project slated to begin operations in Mondolkiri province next year has raised concerns about its potential effects on the environment and local communities. The project, proposed by the Chinese-owned Alex Corporation, would see a ...
Phak Seangly and Jack Davies
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-wary-mkiri-mine-project
Government urged to hasten amendment of investment laws
The government should speed up amendments to its investment laws ahead of two major business conferences set for next year when visiting foreign investors will get first-hand knowledge of the economy, the head of a local business association said yesterday. ...
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/government-urged-hasten-amendment-investment-laws
Surprise flooding concerns
Eight provinces experienced flooding yesterday, according to a disaster management official, with hectares of farmland also left damaged as unseasonal heavy rains continue to whip the country. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Andrew Nachemson
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/surprise-flooding-concerns
Agriculture minister goes on defensive
Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon yesterday defended his ministry amid complaints by farmers of low yields during dry season, rising costs of production and a lack of markets to sell their produce, saying that other ministries and sectors also shared responsibility. ...
Touch Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/agriculture-minister-goes-defensive
Japanese FDI flows in roads, bridges it built
Japanese investors have sunk over $800 million into the Cambodian economy over the past two decades, with much of this investment coming on the back of concessional aid directed to develop and strengthen the country’s trade and industry capacities, according to data provided on Friday ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/japanese-fdi-flows-roads-bridges-it-built
Dredging plans raise concerns in K Cham
Kampong Cham authorities met with concerned villagers on Friday over a proposed sand-dredging project that some fear could lead to the collapse of their riverbank. More than 220 families living on the riverbank in Tamieng village thumbprinted a petition delivered to provincial authorities requesting that ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dredging-plans-raise-concerns-k-cham
Unions, government consult on new min wage law
The Ministry of Labour met with unions on Friday to gather input on a universal minimum wage law currently being drafted, union representatives and ministry officials confirmed yesterday. “The meeting is a forum for each party to review the draft and provide comments so the ...
Sen David and Cristina Maza
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-government-consult-new-min-wage-law