The Phnom Penh Post
Improved economic conditions boost land prices in Battambang city, province
Battambang land prices have increased this year, according to a local real estate firm. Sorn Seap, general manager of Key Real Estate, said land prices in Battambang city, capital of the province of the same name, have increased by around 12 per cent this year compared ...
‘People’s congress’ to test ban
Opposition leaders yesterday announced plans to hold a thousands-strong “people’s congress” in the capital’s Freedom Park on Sunday, despite a ban on gatherings at the site. Cambodia National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy and vice-president Kem Sokha, following their return from overseas trips to Australia, New ...
Meas Sokchea and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98people%E2%80%99s-congress%E2%80%99-test-ban
Unions to lead holiday strike
When is a strike not a strike? That’s a question being asked after union leaders yesterday announced they will inform garment factory owners that their members want to use annual leave days to wage their stay-at-home strike the week after Khmer New Year. The leaders of eight ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-lead-holiday-strike
PM to fete controversial dam
In the wake of several international scandals, the 120-megawatt Stung Atai hydropower plant in Pursat province and its transmission line will be inaugurated today in a celebration headed by Prime Minister Hun Sen. The $255 million hydropower project financed by China Development Bank has been operating ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-fete-controversial-dam
Koh Russey, a jewel by the sea
After its November launch in Hong Kong, Alila Villas Koh Russey will break ground late next month, initiating the construction of a world-class luxury resort. Alila Villas occupies 25 hectares on Koh Russey, an island in the Koh Rong archipelago in the Gulf of Thailand, with ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/koh-russey-jewel-sea
Court drops case against PM Hun Sen
A case filed by a youth organiser against Prime Minister Hun Sen, in which the premier was accused of illegally ceding Cambodian territory to Vietnam, has been dropped by Phnom Penh Municipal Court. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/court-drops-case-against-pm-hun-sen
Kuoy villagers say patrols put logging on pause
For three days last week, the Preah Roka forest in Preah Vihear province was silent, the usual cacophony of chainsaws notably absent. The buzz of trucks arriving empty and later leaving heavily loaded with timber had been replaced by ethnic Kuoy villagers, about 300 in all, ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kuoy-villagers-say-patrols-put-logging-pause
Firm plans more bus lines
Chinese firm Global (Cambodia) Trade Development will launch several more city bus lines in Phnom Penh over the next 10 months, dramatically expanding what has so far been a successful experiment to introduce mass transit to the capital, the company and state media said yesterday. Lin ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/firm-plans-more-bus-lines
For Royal Group, sale not desired
Executives from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) and local partner Royal Group of Companies (RGC) both went into damage control yesterday after comments by ANZ chief executive officer Mike Smith suggesting the joint banking venture between the two was on the rocks. Royal ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/royal-group-sale-not-desired
Factory waste blamed for health, crop woes
Forty families in Kampong Chhnang province’s Peani commune complained yesterday that a local factory has been polluting their land with toxic liquid waste. Kong Yom, 40, a representative of the 40 families in Krang Ta Ekh village, said yesterday that this is not the first time ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factory-waste-blamed-health-crop-woes
IDEA activist denied bail
Moments after Prak Sovannary heard the Court of Appeal denied her husband’s request for bail, she sobbed over a speaker affixed to the top of a tuk-tuk, condemning the decision to about 150 supporters. “Release him! Release him!” said Sovannary, the wife of Independent Democracy of ...
Chhay Channyda and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/idea-activist-denied-bail
Areng Valley mining may unseat dam
A highly controversial, Chinese-backed hydropower project in the Areng Valley could be delayed in favour of mining, should “research” for the dam approved by Phnom Penh in February uncover precious metals or gems. Sinohydro Resources Ltd, a holding company for Sinohydro Group, was granted approval on ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/areng-valley-mining-may-unseat-dam
Visiting EU MPs have full agenda
A group of European Union parliamentarians will arrive in the Kingdom today to “study and research” the organisation of elections, the resolution of land disputes, democratic development and EU development projects, according to a statement issued by the National Assembly yesterday. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/visiting-eu-mps-have-full-agenda
Rolling blackouts ‘not in the works’: official
Phnom Penh residents should experience blackouts less frequently this dry season, as state-run Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) now has enough power to avoid a repeat of last year’s rolling blackouts, a senior company official said yesterday. The amount of electricity Cambodia will receive from several hydropower ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rolling-blackouts-%E2%80%98not-works%E2%80%99-official
Sonando vows to go ahead with protest
Beehive Radio owner Mam Sonando yesterday promised to once again defy Phnom Penh Municipal Hall and go ahead with an unsanctioned March 31 protest against the Ministry of Information’s refusal to give him a television licence and more relay frequencies to extend the reach of ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sonando-vows-go-ahead-protest
Shake-up may move judicial figures to new positions
Twenty judges and prosecutors may soon find themselves pulling up stakes and tackling new jurisdictions, according to a draft list detailing a wide-ranging judicial reshuffling obtained by thePost yesterday. In the proposed shake-up, Phnom Penh Municipal Court president Chiv Keng will be moved into a position as ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/shake-may-move-judicial-figures-new-positions
Cambodia lagging on energy, water, says UN
A United Nations study released on Friday shows that Cambodia has the highest rates – among 11 Asian countries surveyed – of people lacking access to electricity, clean water and sanitation. The 2014 UN World Water Development report, titled Facing the Challenges, ranks Cambodia below countries including ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodia-lagging-energy-water-says-un
Friends in high places
A Chinese developer with a “family-like” relationship to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit has accelerated construction at its $5 billion resort – ostensibly cancelled by royal decree in 2010 – in a protected national park in Preah Sihanouk province. The 3,300-hectare Golden Silver Gulf resort ...
Daniel Pye and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/friends-high-places
Wing Star workers to end strike
Employees at the Kampong Speu shoe factory where a ceiling collapse killed two workers last May are headed back to work today after more than a week on strike, but will take their demands to the Arbitration Council. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/wing-star-workers-end-strike
Neighbours wary of Laos dam plan
In its race to cash in on hydropower without first addressing its downstream implications, Laos could pitch the region into a water crisis and jeopardise millions of Cambodian’s food security, conservation groups and Cambodian government officials said yesterday. “Lao PDR is exploiting the Mekong River to ...
Laignee Barron and Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/neighbours-wary-laos-dam-plan
NBC won’t recognise bitcoin
Cambodia’s central bank won’t recognise bitcoin as a form of payment, making the Kingdom the latest Asian country to reject the digital currency. National Bank of Cambodia director-general Chea Serey confirmed the regulator’s stance on the issue on Wednesday, citing the absence of any e-commerce law ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/nbc-won%E2%80%99t-recognise-bitcoin
It’s paradise – for some
On the shore of Koh Kong province’s Kiri Sakor district overlooking a cluster of islands, a flourishing new golf course lies vacant but for a handful of workers tending its empty greens. The Romanesque hotel behind it, replete with a bold central dome, luxury VIP suites ...
May Titthara and David Boyle
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/its-paradise-%E2%80%93-some
Pepsi to buy only ‘clean’ sugar
Soft-drinks giant PepsiCo has pledged to take a “zero-tolerance” approach to land grabs by its sugar suppliers. In a statement posted on the company’s website on Tuesday, it said the move came in response to a campaign by Oxfam, which targeted Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pepsi-buy-only-%E2%80%98clean%E2%80%99-sugar
Tonle Sap Lake fisheries a concern for dam project
Already under attack by overfishing, pollution and deforestation, Tonle Sap Lake fisheries face an even bigger threat in the form of hydropower dams, according to experts. Laos’ planned Don Sahong Hydropower Project in particular has environmentalists fearing an emptier, less bio-diverse lake, and a nation pitched ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tonle-sap-lake-fisheries-concern-dam-project